Warriors, Every Storm Runs Out of Rain
by ShinyUmbreon111
Summary: After the Great Battle one of the Thunderclan patrols find two kits on the far border. One of them nearly dead, the other hostile, cold, and has claws of fire. Both are familiar to Bramblestar, and not in a good way. For a reason, they have clan names: Stormkit and Bloodkit, kits of Mapleshade? (Quick trailer at Scratch-mit-edu, u.n: SilverFire1040, "Warriors FanFiction Trailer")
1. Prologue

Prologue

-Kits of the Dark Forest-

"Bramblestar!"

The large, dark brown tabby tom turned to a ginger she-cat with a white front paw and emerald eyes. "Yes, Squirrelflight?"

"Spiderleg and Amberpaw found two kits on the far edge of the territory. They didn't smell of any clan, but... I think you should see for yourself."

The Thunderclan leader's auburn eyes widened for a moment, then he narrowed them. "Lead the way."

His mate's pace was nervously quickened. He didn't like to see her move so much, what with her expecting kits. His kits. Bramblestar tried to get her to walk slower by padding in front of her, but, like always, she didn't take the hint and walked by his side at her same pace.

He felt his mate's heart beat quicken. At once, he stopped her. "Are you all right? Are our kits coming? This isn't safe for you, just tell me where they are and go back to the nurs-"

"Bramblestar, I keep telling you I'm fine. This is important for you to see, and I don't think you'll get much help from Spiderleg or Amberpaw," Squirrelflight sighed and padded around him.

She glanced back and flicked her tail for him to keep moving. Bramblestar blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? Are they ill? Or hurt?"

"They're fine, as well. Just a little scared."

That did anything but reassure him. But he kept his paws moving.

Suddenly, the ginger she-cat came to a halt. She crouched down below a thicket and gestured for Bramblestar to do the same. "What is-"

"Shh!" Squirrelflight's eyes were filled with fear. "They're right over there."

The Thunderclan leader followed her gaze and caught his breath. Spiderleg had taken a hostile position facing a small, golden she-kit with blood-red eyes, who stood in front of a dark brown, tiger-striped tom kit with a white belly and barely-opened crimson eyes. The she-kit's claws were unsheathed and unnaturally glowing like a flame. The tom was lying on his side, paws outstretched and breathing heavily.

Behind her mentor, Amberpaw lay on the ground with a slash down her pelt, glowing similarly like the she-kit's claws. She wasn't bleeding, but she certainly was injured.

Bramblestar gasped and leaped clean over the thicket, landing next to Spiderleg with unsheathed claws and bared teeth. "What's going on?"

The dark grey warrior sighed in relief. "We found them here. The second we got close, that she-kit leaped on Amberpaw. She has to get back to camp right now! That wound is killing her!"

The golden she-kit narrowed her eyes and spoke with a dark, horse, whispered voice. "Bramblestar."

The sound of the Thunderclan leader's name spoken by her pierced him like a thorn. "Who are you?" he snapped.

"I would say it is none of your business, but your not... any cat. My name is Bloodkit. My brother is Stormkit."

_Clan names..._

"Well, Bloodkit," Bramblestar scoffed. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't expect the leader of Thunderclan to be so... talkative," her voice didn't change, but it still held a thick hostility.

"If you have no reason to tell me, you can leave."

Bloodkit met his eyes coldly. "I don't have to leave. I'd much prefer it if I killed Stormfur first. Where is he?"

He strained from feeling fear. How could this kit give such a dangerous message. Then, he realized that he knew her voice, her pelt, the way she acted. He couldn't pinpoint it, but he knew he had met a cat like her... somewhere.

"Why do you want to know?" Spiderleg spat.

The golden furred kit faced him. The only expression she had was narrowed, crimson eyes. "I owe you no explanation. So tell me where Stormfur is, or you will end up like your ginger friend."

Bramblestar growled. "You are no threat to us. I will not allow you to touch another one of my cats, and you won't be able to kill me four times before you're running off our territory with your tail between your legs like a little dog."

"Oh that's right, the 'nine lives' thing you leaders have," Bloodkit lightly sneered, showing sharp fangs, and still not getting up from her deadly position. "So you only have four left, do you?"

Bramblestar held his breath. Now he was certain he knew that look, and voice. "How do you know so much about us? Are you a rogue? Cast out from another clan?"

Squirrelflight burst out of the thicket before Bloodkit could answer, though she didn't look like she would, anyway. Following the white-pawed she-cat were Jayfeather, Greystripe, and Thornclaw. The warriors took their place beside their leader and hissed at Bloodkit. Her crimson eyes flashed with mock. "All this trouble for two kits? You must be under the impression that I want to kill the clans."

Scanning the surrounding cats, she vividly adjusted her stance so that she defended Stormkit. "You are Greystripe, aren't you?"

The silver tom's eyes widened. "Of course you are," Bloodkit spat. "You look just like your wretched son. And am I mistaken to say it was you who murdered Mapleshade that day?"

Stormkit murmered something, but only Bramblestar seemed to notice. Greystripe snarled. "Why do you want to kill my son?!"

"Oh, don't think of it like I want to kill _your _son. I want to destroy the bloodline of Appledusk."

_Appledusk? That's...! That's the cat who was father to Mapleshade's drowned kits! But that was moons ago, how can she know this?_

Greystripe ignored his leader's order to stop and lunged at Bloodkit. "She killed Silverstream! Mapleshade had no right to live in a world where my love can not!"

The golden-furred she-kit seemed to jolt out of his way like lightning, and with a flash of real fire, she lashed out at the warrior's side as he missed. An antagonized yowl flooded the clearing. Bramblestar opened his eyes, not knowing they had closed.

He wished he hadn't opened them at all.

The clearing had been engulfed in flames, and the only parts that weren't had been burned to soot. Standing at the edge was Bloodkit, but the fire on her claws had spread to her paws. The grass beneath them were scorched. She had her back to them, but not quite to the warriors beside Bramblestar.

Greystripe lay in the center on his side, and with a large, flaming gash on his pelt. His eyes were wide and his mouth open in a screaming form. But he was as silent as the clearing after the flames rapidly died out. Bloodkit turned around, and sat up neatly. Her crimson eyes still held their icy glare. The fire calmly sank back to her claws and vanished, revealing dark red claws.

Bramblestar's breathing quickened and he rushed beside his mentor's best friend. "Greystripe!"

The wound was just like Amberpaw's. It was frightening, to know that it came from a kit. Jayfeather and Squirrelflight ran up to his side. Bramblestar trembled at the mark. "Get Greystripe and Amberpaw to the medicine den now! Thornclaw, try any find any of the other patrols."

"But, Bramblestar, then you won't have anyone-"

"GO!"

The warriors hesitantly left. The tiger-striped leader turned back to Bloodkit, but she was gone. But Stormkit hadn't left where he lay. Bramblestar's fur prickled as he crept up to the kit. Finally able to look closer at him, he saw that the weak kit's eyes were just as red as his sister's, but they didn't gleam with hate. In fact, they seemed to show fear and yielding. He groaned and let his head fall back after seeing the concern in the Thunderclan leader's amber eyes.

Not knowing why, he picked up the kit gently by his scruff and carried him towards the camp. Unlike Bloodkit, this one really wasn't a threat. He still couldn't help but feel like those cold, red eyes were about to lash out at him with a rush of fire. Then it would all be over.

* * *

"BRAMBLESTAR!"

Cloudtail charged into the leader's den in a flurry of white fluff. He jolted up and met face to face with the white warrior, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. Every time ANYTHING that wasn't hunting or anything normal happened, he got a wild Cloudtail appearing in his den like a tornado. "What is it?"

"It's the kit you brought in this morning!"

"WHAT?! What about him?!"

"Jayfeather found something you aren't going to like!"

"Well what is it, for Starclan's sake?!"

Cloudtail told him everything so fast, he couldn't understand a word. "What?" he mewed when the warrior was 'done'.

"Just go see him, he's in the medicine den."

Not to his surprise, pretty much the entire clan had been packed into the front of the medicine den. Jayfeather grumpily shouted over the crowd for everyone to leave. "THE NEXT CAT TO SET PAW IN HERE WITHOUT AN INJURY WILL BE PRESENTED WITH BLOODYKIT IN THEIR LEFT EARLOBE!"

"It was _Bloodkit,_ you old elder!" someone accidentally meowed out loud. Before the medicine cat could kill whoever said that (his/her name will not be spoken for Jayfeather may read this and find him/her and kill him/her), Bramblestar pushed through the crowd and shooed them away. Then he turned to Jayfeather. "Alright, what is it?"

"I was thinking about the way you described Bloodkit to me while I was treating Stormkit. By the way, he was just really tired, I'm not sure why. Anyway, I, too, think that she seems familiar, and the only cat I could think of that looked like that was the same scent on Stormkit. It was faint, but..."

Jayfeather's voice died out. Bramblestar growled at him. "But what? This isn't the time to keep secrets, Jayfeather!"

The medicine cat's cyan eyes flashed. "Stormkit and Bloodkit are the kits of Mapleshade!"

* * *

**Ok, so just saying a few things right now. I'm still alive. I have not canceled my Golden Sun fanfic, I'm just not motivated. I'll see if I can do the next chapter this weekend and make it extra long. During that time, I shall gripe about delays once again.**

**So anyway, I hope most of you know what Warriors is, because otherwise I'm not sure why your reading this. So if you're wondering why Bloodkit said Greystripe killed Mapleshade, in my book he did. I'm not exactly positive if Mapleshade died again in the Dark Forest, but here she didn't, until a dark secret is revealed some time before now.**

**Mapleshade was the one who killed Silverstream, not giving birth. Cinderpelt blamed herself for nothing. It was a few Starclan cats who chased Mapleshade away from killing the kits.**

**Why does she hate Silverstream? Because she's kin of Appledusk, the tom who she loved but didn't love her and blamed her for letting their kits drown after she was banished from Thunderclan for loving him. Yeah... anyway she's really my favorite warrior cat.**

**Tigerclaw was there when Silverstream died(as you all know), and since he went to the Dark Forest, he was told it was Mapleshade who killed Silverstream. In the Great Battle, he has a private moment with Greystripe and tells him this.**

**Then after the Great Battle and everyone is healed, Greystripe goes to the Moonpool, demands that Starclan drop him off at the Dark Forest, and meets Mapleshade. Then he kills her.**

**Wanna know why Stormkit is dark brown with tiger-stripes? Find out later in the book! ***i**s a surprise* **

**So apparently Bloodkit and Stormkit are born alive, but Bloodkit has those flame powers from her claws (that Stormkit doesn't have, but he has something else that I'll tell you about in another chapter). And as you saw how the flames had spread to her paws after hurting Greystripe (or killing him, tell me in a review if you want me to have him die), if those flames completely consume her, she'll be lost to the will to kill. And she'll die.**

**Keep watch for chapter 2! Make sure to tell me what you think and if you want Greystripe to die! And if you like screaming Cloudtail!**

**-Shiny**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

-Scarlet Past-

Stormpaw leaped onto a fallen tree trunk and sniffed the humid air. The scent of prey was scarce, due to the late New-Leaf, but Thunderclan's territory was free of snow and ice now. He could almost feel the sun's warm rays soaking into his pelt, but sadly the only part of that which was true was the fact that his pelt really was soaking. He'd been hunting since sun-high, but only managed to catch a young, and weak for that matter, shrew.

Despite his constant efforts to prove himself to his adopted clan, the only cat who treated him like a Thunderclan apprentice was Dewpaw, who was almost twice Stormpaw's age. In fact, his warrior ceremony was due in a few days. Stormpaw felt bad that the grey and white tom wasn't going to share his ceremony with Amberpaw, his sister.

Just four moons ago, when Stormpaw was only three moons old, a she-kit named Bloodkit had taken Amberpaw's life. The stories had been told and exaggerated in the nursery, but Stormpaw knew the real version. Bloodkit was his own sister. Amberpaw died suffering from a wound given to her by Bloodkit. It was horrifying, as her claws became surrounded by fire and lashed out at the young apprentice.

Yet, surprisingly enough, Dewpaw held a close friendship with Stormpaw during their apprenticeships. But the coming apprentice ceremony and the fact that Amberpaw wouldn't be there was just another reminder to the whole clan that it was Stormpaw's sister who murdered the ginger she-cat. Most of the Thunderclan cats hadn't let the dark, tiger-striped apprentice forget that.

He sighed, not looking forward to the day to come. Maybe he should have felt lucky that Bramblestar let him stay in Thunderclan. He liked having something to protect and to live for, but he missed his sister. At least she was his age, and they shared the same blood. The blood that no clan cat liked, sadly.

Mapleshade still haunted him, trying to force him to see the world through her eyes. Even when she was gone forever, never to be seen again, even in the Dark Forest, she crept her way to his dreams in Bloodkit's form. Every night he was afraid to sleep, for he knew he would see those crimson eyes flashing in the darkness, with only her flaming claws as a light.

Stormpaw hated the thought of having Dark Forest blood running through his own veins, but there was another side of him that didn't mind, even enjoyed the sight of Amberpaw screaming in pain on the medicine cat's den floor. He fought to shut that side out. Even today, while he hunted, he ached to feel something, _anything_, scrambling to be free from his claws.

He began to run back to his buried shrew. Frantically digging it up, he slowly exhaled in submission and sank his claws deep into the creature's flesh. He tried to remember the high-pitched squeal made by the prey when he caught it. Stormpaw knew he shouldn't like that feeling, but he needed it every chance he got. When catching prey, he would brutally attack it so he wouldn't come running back to it just to tear it apart too often.

Stormpaw jumped away from his shrew when the sound of paw steps came from behind him. Instinctively, he unsheathed his claws and growled, only to catch his breath in dismay to see Bramblestar calmly gazing at him.

The Thunderclan leader sighed and turned to the shrew. "Are you still having those feelings?"

"I... yes. I'm sorry, Bramblestar!" Stormpaw started.

Bramblestar raised his tail in silence. "There is a need to be sorry, but I know right now you don't entirely mean it. With leaf-bare still here, prey is scarce, and though that means little food for us, you are suffering most. It's Mapleshade, isn't it?"

The dark-brown-striped apprentice hung his head. "How come you keep me around when you know I can barely control myself?"

"Stormpaw, Mapleshade may be your mother, but you still are a Dark Forest cat, yourself. I don't want their numbers to grow, that's why I keep you here. That's also why I let you rip at your prey like that, and why I'm your mentor. If other cats knew about this, you wouldn't be a clan cat for long. So to keep that from happening, you know we can't let you suddenly attack Thunderclan."

Stormpaw's red eyes were closed tight. "But I barely catch any prey, and mostly what I do catch, I destroy! I can't help it, Bramblestar, I can't stop myself!"

"What would Dewpaw say right now, if he knew you were like this?" Bramblestar held his calm voice.

"He'd be just like the rest of this clan," Stormpaw spat. "They don't understand anything!"

"Why do you think you're my apprentice?"

"So you can make sure I _don't_ break this stupid habit!"

The Thunderclan leader blinked. "I don't care if you have this habit or not. I have other warriors that can hunt. Our priority right now is keeping you from becoming like Bloodpaw."

Even though she wasn't a clan cat, Bramblestar always said she was involved, and having a cat with a kit's name be a threat to all four clans was embarrassing. Stormpaw never agreed, neither did he say anything about it. His eyes kept moving back towards the shrew. The Thunderclan leader turned away. "Go ahead, Stormpaw. Nobody is watching, and I know you have to."

Stormpaw hesitantly leaned over the prey and sank his teeth into it. He felt guilty, knowing that he was breaking the warrior code right in front of his leader and mentor, but at the same time he felt relived. Stormpaw didn't want to be like Bloodpaw, so this was the only way.

The two cats returned with only a mouse and a crow in their mouths, and Stormpaw knew the shrew wasn't worth it. The clan was hungry, and Sandstorm, Lilypaw, Whitewing, and Lionblaze were all sick with Greencough. Had he come back with more prey, the clan wouldn't have so many starving cats. But Stormpaw let himself eat the shrew, and this was the price he had to pay: letting his adopted clanmates die because of him.

Dewpaw cheerfully bounded up to him, and Bramblestar padded towards the fresh-kill pile to turn in their catch. "Stormpaw!" mewed the grey tom. "How did it go?"

"It wasn't great. We only got enough for a few cats. You seem to be holding up well, with Lilypaw and Whitewing sick."

Dewpaw gazed sadly at the medicine den as his white, tortoiseshell sister coughed. "Yeah, but I hope they get better. And with Greystripe gone, Sandstorm is the only one left in the clan who was so close to Firestar."

Stormpaw's fur prickled. Greystripe had died like Amberpaw, only he was immediately killed by Bloodkit after her claws hit his flesh. He never even got a chance to protect his son, Stormfur. _Thank Starclan,_ the darkly tiger-striped apprentice thought, _that Bloodpaw hasn't been seen since that day_.

He let his crimson eyes gaze around the camp. The air was thick and wet, and no cat didn't smell of hunger. Except him, but Bramblestar had made sure Stormpaw rolled around in wild garlic to hide the shrew's scent before entering the camp. The two of them had asked Jayfeather to keep a secret batch of the strong-smelling plant growing a little past the far border, just for days like this. Dewpaw and the others seemed to just assume he constantly smelled of wild garlic and just lived with it.

"Squirrelflight was looking for you today."

His closest thing to a friend's mew broke into Stormpaw's thoughts. "What did she want?"

Dewpaw shrugged. "Dunno. She only asked me where you were, and I said you were hunting with Bramblestar. I think she's in the medicine den now, checking on Sandstorm."

"Oh..." Stormpaw groaned. The deputy had been checking on her mother almost three times a day.

The dark brown apprentice cautiously picked up his mouse, bid Dewpaw a polite good-bye, and padded towards Jayfeather's den. When he stepped through the entrance, the first thing he saw was Jayfeather's face. The old medicine cat sighed impatiently and brushed past him. "Squirrelflight was asking for you this morning."

"I know."

Jayfeather snorted. "She wanted to know why you've been catching less prey than her kits could." His voice was slow, dry, and held a hint of annoyance, as always. "And tell Robinpaw to keep watch on the sick cats."

Robinpaw was Jayfeather's young apprentice and the son of Cinderpelt and Lionblaze. The medicine cat always pushed him impatiently.

Stormpaw dipped his head as the blind, silver tom quickly padded out of camp. Peeking inside first, he crept into the den and sat just inside. "You wanted to see me, Squirrelflight?"

The ginger she-cat whisked around and growled, "Yes. You've barely caught any prey all leaf-bare. I don't care if it's a hard season, but you only go hunting with Bramblestar, and the prey you bring back always smells of him. Want to explain?"

"No," Stormpaw glared at her. "I don't."

Squirrelflight may be his deputy, but his mentor swore him to secrecy, and he wasn't about to tell Squirrelflight, of all cats.

Lilypaw flinched and frantically sat up at the sound of his voice. Stormpaw sighed. The tortoiseshell apprentice was constantly nervous around him, because she couldn't look into his crimson eyes without picturing Bloodpaw killing her sister, Amberpaw.

Sandstorm rested her tail on Lilypaw's shoulder and she edged to the corner of the den and lay back down. Robinpaw swiftly rushed into the den and lay beside his father, nudging a leaf of catmint next to him. Lionblaze groaned and weakly ate the herb. The black and ginger-bellied apprentice blinked affectionately and gave a leaf to Whitewing, Lilypaw, and Sandstorm, then he ran out again as quickly as he entered.

He briefly stopped to meet Stormpaw's gaze. His scarlet eyes flashed a reflection in Robinpaw's green ones, and he leaped over to the other dens, probably to see if any other cat was coughing. Stormpaw knew Robinpaw was weird. Not like him, but he knew the red-bellied tom was different. No cat knew what he was thinking, and he never spoke. The only thing he had in common with his parents was that they rushed everywhere, and even Robinpaw did that more quickly.

Squirrelflight turned back to Stormpaw, who narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm trying, ok? At least Bramblestar knows that. How come you get so angry when I'm around, and yet you're constantly asking to talk to me?"

"As the deputy of Thunderclan, it happens to be my job to make sure every cat is doing their job. So when a cat starts to act like they don't care, I'm expected, and I _do_ get to the bottom of it."

* * *

**Alright, here's another chapter. I have no idea if Cinderheart and Lionblaze already had kits that weren't Robinpaw, but in this story, he's their only son. And I have nothing against muted people, I just wanted Robinpaw to be mute.**

**Squirrelflight has a reason for being such a dung to Stormpaw, and that it because Stormpaw is one of Mapleshade's kits.**

**Also, I know I said last chapter that I wanted you guys to decide whether or not I should have Greystripe die, but no. He's minced meat as far as I care. :P**

**Again, please leave a review saying what you think of this!**

**-Shiny**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

-The Beginning of the End-

Greystripe padded through the star-lit forest, with Firestar and Silverstream by his side. They followed the sound of Bluestar's call, and approached a cluster of many Starclan cats. They all deserved to be in Starclan, but Greystripe didn't want to have died. His clan needed him. His _son_ needed him, and yet here Greystripe was dead, sent to the stars by a kit.

The silver warrior dipped his head to Redtail, the first cat to fall to Tigerstar's claws, and the cat who should have been the next Thunderclan leader. Even with Redtail gone, no cat alive now could regret Firestar being leader. Bluestar flicked her tail to them in acknowledgment as a cat's voice sounded vague from below them.

"Let the gathering begin."

Greystripe looked over the cats in front of him to see the cloudy hole that Starclan looked through to see Four Trees, and the clans. Pinestar gracefully dove into the cloud at the sound of the clan cat's gathering call. As he did, his pelt grew as faded as the clans' memories of him. The rest of Starclan followed, their pelts growing faded as well. Greystripe felt a sensation flow through him as he joined the clan's world for the fourth time since his death.

As the cats around Four Trees grew closer and more familiar, the more Greystripe wanted to brush pelts with them, but he knew he couldn't. The clans had to feel Starclan's presence on their own, so that their faith in them remained strong. Several times, he had to stop himself from appearing in front of Millie and their kits.

Firestar sat by his side as the Starclan cats landed on the tree branches. "Sandstorm isn't here tonight."

The ginger warrior sighed. "I can't let her die from Greencough. She doesn't deserve to die suffering."

Bluestar joined their branch. "She'll be alright, Firestar. You'll be here for her if she doesn't make it."

Bramblestar was talking. Firestar listened intently. "So no other clans know about Stormpaw's bloodline?"

"I'm afraid it's for the best," Silverstream mewed. "But the others certainly know about Bloodpaw. She's been visiting the Dark Forest, lately?"

"Yes, and quite frequently. I heard she accidentally killed Thistleclaw a few days ago," added Greystripe.

Bluestar looked at her paws, avoiding the wide eyes of her also dead sister, Snowfur. "Oh."

Redtail leaped down from his branch and joined the starclan cats below that walked by the clans, unnoticed. Greystripe expected him to pad up to Bramblestar or Squirrelflight, but he sat beside Stormpaw, how lay in a shaded area on the far edge of the island. His ears were flat and his pelt bristled. It was too obvious that his mentor had made him come. Trilliumpaw, a white she-cat with a scarlet tail and flower-like marking that vined down her back fur, and a new Windclan apprentice, had come to sit beside him as well. Redtail came back to the trees and glanced at Bluestar. "He's feeling that way again. His claws were flexing and his eyes told the rest."

"During a gathering? Bramblestar obviously is being reckless, letting him come to a place with so many cats," Firestar commented.

"Shadowclan has been thriving since Blackstar's passing. Littlecloud has informed us that he is well in Starclan," Rowanstar reported down below.

Just last moon, the Shadowclan leader, Blackstar, died from hunger. He had refused to eat more than any other cat did, and there was barely any prey in all territories. Greystripe looked around for the black-pawed tom, but Blackstar had stayed behind.

The watch respectfully as the Thunderclan leader announced Robinpaw and Stormpaw's apprenticeships. Cats all around the clearing yowled the new apprentices' names in excitement. "Stormpaw! Robinpaw! Stormpaw! Robinpaw!"

The dark-brown striped tom lifted his head and smiled slightly, while Robinpaw stared blankly up at Bramblestar. A few Starclan leaders, Crookedstar, Leopardstar, Tallstar, Pinestar, and Bluestar went to sit beside the current leaders.

Firestar didn't join them, and Greystripe asked him why. "Because the clans don't have time for peace. Bloodpaw is less than halfway from the Tribe and no cat has done anything about it," he answered.

The silver warrior flicked his tail. "Maybe they don't know. Have you sent a cat to Bramblestar yet?"

Redtail's eyes narrowed. "No, and neither have the others. That's my point. We're Starclan; we should do something about this."

"Well if you're so eager, Redtail," Bluestar gazed at her first deputy. "Why don't you go tell them tonight? Bring all four clan leaders into one dream and assign cats of your choice to warn the Tribe, or have them catch up to Bloodpaw. Either way, now is your chance to complete your destiny."

The ginger-tailed warrior dipped his head in thanks. Long ago, when he was an apprentice, Sunstar had told him he would achieve something great. Thanks to Tigerstar, he hadn't got a chance to during the time he was alive. "I will go wait for them to return to their camps."

"No," Bluestar put her tail on his shoulders as he rose. "I want you to hear what the clans speak of this gathering. You've been coming almost as rarely as Stormpaw these days."

"... Yes, Bluestar."

* * *

Bramblestar rose to his paws. He still felt tired from last night's gathering, but when his eyes opened, he jumped up with a start. He wasn't in his den, or the camp. Cautiously glancing around him, he accidentally skipped over a cat he'd heard much about.

"Redtail!"

The ginger-tailed tom dipped his head to Bramblestar. "I'm afraid this isn't just a quick greeting. I've brought the other clan leaders as well."

As he flicked his ear, Rowanstar, Onestar, and Mistystar padded from the forest, following Redtail. "Why are we here, Redtail?" the Shadowclan leader meowed.

"Bloodpaw."

The clan leaders all growled at her name. Bramblestar's fur prickled as he remembered her cold, crimson eyes and the icy voice of Mapleshade, only darker.

Redtail continued. "Bramblestar, from what you told us, she is looking for Stormfur, and wants to kill him. Since he is yet another descendant of Appledusk, she, too, has a hatred for his entire bloodline. Starclan have kept a close watch on her, and she not only has been seeing her father in the Dark Forest every night, but is also more than halfway to the Tribe of Rushing Water. You must send a selection of cats to either warn the Tribe, or find Bloodpaw and do anything to make sure those claws don't touch another cat."

He gazed at each of them thoughtfully, keeping his ears pricked for the other Starclan cats' choices. Their voices started flowing through his ears and he became annoyed with what he heard.

"Aw, Blackstar, can't we have just a little fun on this quest?"

"No. This is a matter of life or death, Amberpaw. We do not mess around with it!"

"But we get to decide who goes on this quest, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I say we make Stormpaw go!"

"You still have that grudge against him? He's not the one who killed you."

"Yeah I know, but I just think it would be _so cool_ if the other cats eventually found out about Stormpaw and they had to help him out! What do you think?"

"Risky."

"I don't care if it's risky! Besides, Bloodpaw won't kill him. He's her brother, after all. So let's send Stormpaw."

"Fine, but we're sending Jayfeather too, just in case. He's the only other clan cat besides Bramblestar who knows about what Stormpaw's going through. So if the others do find out, Stormpaw won't be alone."

"Redtail? Who do we send?" Bramblestar's voice broke through the conversation.

The ginger-tailed warrior snapped at him. "Shut up, I'm trying to think!"

"Ok... why didn't you think of them before now?"

"Send Jayfeather... Stormpaw-"

"STORMPAW?!"

"I said shut up!"

**(we go back to Blackstar and Amberpaw!)**

"Ooh!" Amberpaw squealed. "Let's send Tigerheart, too!"

"Why Tigerheart?"

"Because he trained in the Dark Forest, but then gave it all up for Dovewing! It was soooo perfect!"

"Uh... sure. Let's send Tawnypelt and Grasspaw with him."

"This is so exciting, it's like that time when those cats had to find us a new home from the twolegs! But this time I get to decide who goes!"

"Ok, and from Windclan, we should send Crowfeather, Breezepelt, and Trilliumpaw."

"What about Heathertail? Trilliumpaw shouldn't have to go without her mentor."

"She's good at making friends. So just hurry up with Riverclan."

"Fine! Redtail, say Reedwhisker, Havenpaw, and Mothwing."

"Why Reedwhisker, Amberpaw?"

"Well, we need some cat be a leader here."

"I though you wanted Stormpaw to be that."

"Heck no."

**(Back to Redtail!)**

"Reedwhisker, Havenpaw, Mothwing, Tigerheart, Crowfeather, Breezepelt, Trilliumpaw, Tawnypelt, and Grasspaw."

Onestar groaned. "Are you sure we should let Breezepelt go? He's colder than his father, and especially towards him."

"That's why we want them both to go," Redtail flicked his ear at the Windclan leader. "So they can grow to care about each other."

"Again, why Stormpaw?" Bramblestar repeated. "I don't want him causing trouble. He's young, and-"

He cut himself off as the other leaders glanced at him. Onestar turned back to Redtail. "Why do you want to send Reedwhisker?"

"So he can keep everyone in check. And Crowfeather is experienced with traveling. Have them ready to leave tomorrow at dawn. I don't want any cat thinking it's serious, so try not to be to loud about it."

* * *

**Alright, another chapter. I'm aware that I promised to make another Golden Sun chapter this morning, but I don't like being bored in the morning. Yeah, I said it. My Golden Sun series is boring to me. I'll get a chapter or two out today, but my mom is making me go to a Christmas bazaar right now.**

**So they're sending cats to find the Tribe or Bloodpaw, it really depends on who they find first. I recently got a review saying that person doesn't want Greystripe to have died. So instead of fixing it, because now he's with Silverstream and he died trying to save his son, I made the first part of this chapter in his point of view. So he's ok, guys. He's fine. He's dead, but he's fine.**

**Thistleclaw is a great character from Bluestar's Prophecy. I haven't read it yet, but I think he loved Snowfur, Bluestar's sister, and when she died it was sort of Bluestar's fault, and so Thistleclaw's heart filled with hatred and he went to the Dark Forest. I regret having him die forever, but I'll change it if I get a few people asking me to keep him alive (in the D.F)**

****I don't know if Hawkfrost died again, but here he hasn't yet.****

**Trilliumpaw is my own character. Her kind and caring personality is being covered up by her cold-hearted mentor, Heathertail.**

***PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING***

**I wanted for Stormpaw to not remember who his father was, but I think I've shown evidence that he knows. Just remember this: Stormpaw doesn't know who his father is, YOU don't know who his father is, and I will check the next chapter again to make sure it doesn't give anything away.**

***END OF EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THING, BUT PLEASE KEEP READING IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND A FEW MORE THINGS***

**Redtail apparently was an apprentice when Sunstar was leader, as far as I care.**

**Amberpaw's trying to screw with things.**

**I like Stormpaw. When there's a character who is cold and shut out from the rest of the world, and he's suffering all alone, that's when I really start to like them. Like Scourge or Ashfur.**

**That's basically it, so see y'all when I see y'all!**

**-Shiny**


	4. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

-Only Trust the Distrusted-

Stormpaw yawned as he waited on the border with Windclan. The other cat's were with them, and ready for the journey ahead, but even Jayfeather wasn't too close to him. He wished Starclan had sent someone else for Thunderclan instead of the blind tom, or himself.

It was a Dark Forest cat named Hawkfrost who had taken the life of Jayfeather's sister, Hollyleaf, so it seemed only right to hate Stormpaw to some extent. Many cat's said he looked a lot like his too, except for his strange, crimson eyes.

The apprentice felt guilty for what his mother and sister had done, but he swore to himself that he was nothing like them; that he would devote his life into protecting Thunderclan, no matter how little they would devote into doing the same for him. So to have Dark Forest blood running through his veins while he waited to start a mission he was sent on by Starclan was something he wouldn't even think about objecting to. It meant that the clan's warrior ancestors hadn't given up on him.

He felt the wind rush through his fur as he gazed at the clear valley ahead of him. Breathing deeply, he told himself, _All I have to do is make it through this journey without doing anything wrong._

Stormpaw sighed. _That's harder than I made it sound..._

Jayfeather glanced at him with clouded, blue eyes. He spoke with his dry, slow, clearly menacing voice. "Why are you nervous?"

"Who said I was?"

The silver medicine cat glared at him. "I can smell your fear scent, and I know it's not from the journey, or the pressure."

When Stormpaw didn't answer, Jayfeather leaned close to his face and muttered, "You and I both know the others will find out sooner or later. Starclan knows why they sent you on this mission, you'll only cause more trouble."

Stormpaw leaped to his paws and snarled. "I'm not trying to, ok? You think I want to be here? To be stuck with you for the next year and a half?"

"You say that like we want you to be here."

He flinched at Crowfeather's voice. The dark-grey tom silently padded up to them with his apprentice, Featherpaw. Stormpaw stifled a groan as the arrogant warrior padded firmly up to him. "Every cat at the gathering noticed that you were out of place. Standing on the edge like that is disrespectful to the clan's ancestors. I'd love to know why they chose you to come with us."

"Believe me, I tried to get out of it."

"Why don't you just leave, then, and we'll say you died. At least Thunderclan won't be sheltering a Dark Forest cat anymore."

Scorned but shameful, Stormpaw backed down. He flattened his fur, sheathed his claws, and held his head high. "I have nothing to do with Bloodpaw."

Crowfeather smirked. "You're still her kin, aren't you? How does any cat know you won't betray us if we meet up with her first?"

The crimson-eyes apprentice stopped himself from saying anything. There was nothing to say. Even he wasn't sure about what he'd do on this journey. He was scared. Anything could happen while he had no cat to hold him back. Stormpaw knew that they had a large chance of meeting his sister, but he couldn't figure out if he was excited or terrified. Both of them were lost and weak from leaving the Dark Forest. He wasn't sure why they left. But if Bloodpaw had enough energy then to kill Amberpaw and Greystripe as a kit, he was certain he wouldn't stand a chance if he bared his fangs at her now.

Featherpaw stood silent behind her mentor, while Jayfeather and the others sat just as quietly. Except for Trilliumpaw. The scarlet-tailed she-cat swept herself between the arguing cats, and she glared at Crowfeather. "You aren't exactly perfect yourself, you know. Don't think any cat has forgotten how you tried to abandon your clan for Leafpool."

Crowfeather flinched. Ever since Leafpool died last Leaf-Bare, the dark tom didn't feel right. His mate after Firestar's daughter was Nightcloud, who died a little while ago. He still had their son, Breezepelt, and he was trying to show more affection to the cold tom. But the mention of Leafpool's name still made him tense. Jayfeather seemed to have the same reaction.

Stormpaw felt a little less scared as his eyes briefly met with Trilliumpaw's. Crowfeather was her clanmate, but here, they were just one group of cats. Havenpaw gazed at the two apprentice coldly. **(So many cold cats, I feel like I'm in a fridge. I'm stuck in a fridge with Frosty the Crowman, frozen Jay Flay *a kind of meat or something I just looked it up*, and I'm sneezing from all the Breeze freeze. I'm terrible with puns. Back to the story)**

The dark, tiger-striped apprentice looked back at Crowfeather, who snorted and padded next to his son, who went to the opposite side of the group, who gave him a large personal bubble.

Jayfeather gave every cat a long glare and hissed quietly at Stormpaw so only they could hear. "Don't you forget, Stormpaw, that I am the only one here who you can trust. So you'd better get a hold of yourself, or you'll regret it."

* * *

**WOOO I really like this story!**

**Sorry, it's short this time.**

**Just so you guys know, Trilliumpaw and Stormpaw probably won't be mates. Unless I have Stormpaw die, I don't know who'll be his mate. But Trilliumpaw is in Windclan. Maybe I'll have them run away in another fanfiction or have her run away with his kits after he maybe dies, I dunno. But they do like each other as friends for now...**

**Jayfeather's got issues, but it's only because Stormpaw looks so much like the cat who killed Hollyleaf. Kind of like Squirrelflight's issues.**

**Wow, I really have nothing to say here. Well, leave a review saying what you think of this story, **

**if you want me to have Stormpaw die in the end,**

**if you want Trilliumpaw to be his future mate, **

**and if you want them to find the tribe first, find Bloodpaw first, or be TOO LATE MWAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAAA!**

**-Shiny, worshipper of the Queen of Spam**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

-To Boldly Go Where No Cat has Ever Gone Before, Except for those Other Two or Three Times-

* * *

'Are we there yet?' was what Grasspaw seemed to ask every time Stormpaw blinked.

It had been less than a day and he already missed the safety of the camp, where Bramblestar could be beside him. Now he had Jayfeather- a constantly pissed-off blind tom who, for an elder, couldn't let his fur lie flat, Grasspaw- who won't shut up for her pelt, and Crowfeather AND Breezepelt- who, let's face it, they're Crowfeather and Breezepelt.

And then the rest of the lot. Sighing, the crimson-eyed apprentice wondered once again why he was chosen to find Bloodpaw. Every cat had stopped thinking of the possibility that they'd find the Tribe of Rushing Water before his sister. Stormpaw couldn't even picture her without seeing long claws and eyes full of hatred. He didn't tell the others, but he believed Stormfur was already dead by now.

"Are we there ye-"

"Tawnypelt!"

Crowfeather glared at the tortoiseshell Shadowclan warrior. "Get that apprentice of yours to close her mouth before I claw my ears off!"

"Believe me, Crowfeather, I'd like to," Tawnypelt growled at Grasspaw.

Stormpaw was about to turn around and distract Grasspaw, but the scent of mouse caught his senses. He'd nearly crouched down to catch it when Breezepelt appeared in front of him and darted towards the prey before the apprentice could make a move. Forcing himself not to unsheathe his claws, he watched as the warrior returned with the fresh kill in his mouth and wearing a clearly smug look.

Temptation was something Stormpaw hated to feel, especially when cats got in the way of his settling it. Turning away again, his eyes met Trilliumpaw's. The scarlet-tailed she-cat blinked at the mouse Breezepelt set down. "Why don't you see if Crowfeather would like to share that with you?"

The warrior stared at her and Stormpaw sensed the exasperation from him. Trilliumpaw always had something to do or say, and this time she couldn't have picked a better time. Breezepelt gave his father a cold look as he dropped the mouse in front of his father. "You're welcome."

Crowfeather said nothing and eyed his son. There was a long pause before either of them did anything, but eventually Crowfeather reluctantly shared the mouse with Breezepelt.

Jayfeather got to his paws and blind medicine cat met the eyes of every cat. "We're not here to stop now. We'll rest at night-fall. The sun is barely above our heads, and Bloodpaw is a paw-step closer to the Tribe while you have your awkward moments. Stormpaw, that means you. Don't try and slow us down by hunting when we can't afford to loose time."

* * *

**Yeah, it's been a while. I'm busy with school and stuff, got a big project due soon. I know how short this is, but I just want you guys to know I'm still working on this.**

**So just the norm here, what did you think of this story, do you want them to find the Tribe or Bloodpaw first, and anything you want to add. (I'll see if I can put in new characters based on a cat you describe in the reviews if you want)**

**That's all, I guess.**

**-Shiny**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

-Fury of the Burned Soul-

* * *

Blood trailed behind four fire-patterned paws as each one held a set of claws that scraped the filthy forest floor. A young, golden and white tortoiseshell she-cat wore an alert expression as she padded through the night-black territory, feeling the hot glares of other cats, hidden in the shadows. An older tom cat confidently took a step behind her, and the tortoiseshell whisked around to plant her fore-paw on the other cat's neck. Below her claws was a tiger-striped Tom with bright azure eyes.

He gazed at her calmly as she pinned him down. Her claws began to grow red, and the flame-like patterns on her legs and paws started to ignite into real flames. The tom cat didn't try to push her away. "Don's act like these cats have no right to disapprove of you, Bloodpaw."

The golden tortoiseshell glared at him and backed away, the fire on her fur and claws dieing, but the grass below them instantly was burned to ash. Bloodpaw shook a forepaw, sending a few last sparks onto the ground. "Stop bringing me here, Hawkfrost. Stormfur may have been dead by now if I wasn't sleeping at night."

"I haven't been giving you useless information. Besides, is it wrong to want to see you?"

Bloodpaw scoffed. "You can see me as much as you want after I die."

Hawkfrost gave her a hard look. "That is where you stand wrong."

Her ears pricked, and her claws sheathed and unsheathed repeatedly, slicing the earth beneath. "What do you mean?" She strained to keep her voice strait.

"Bloodpaw, you and your brother were born to Mapleshade and I. We're already dead. But did you really believe that you could have dead blood running through you, and still die to become a spirit?"

She held a silent, shaking, narrowed gaze. Her father met it sternly. "When you die, whether or not you belong in Starclan or the Dark Forest, it won't matter. You will simply... die."

Bloodpaw glared at the dirt. "Then I won't die. I'll use my powers less."

"Have fun surviving without it," Hawkfrost called over his shoulder as he turned to walk away. "Killing with normal claws has yet to become second nature to you, so get to the Tribe fast, if you want to stop using the fire in your claws,"

Bloodpaw tensed. "If you would stop bringing me here, maybe I'll have more time! Stay out of my way, or I'll burn you if you keep me from Stormfur again!"

Her appearance grew blurry, and her voice echoed throughout the clearing. "Even if you are my father."

* * *

**Ok, so I've been meaning to get this done for a while, but I've got other stuff going on, too. Also, sorry it's short, and a little forced. And to clear things up at the end, I hope that only now it's revealed that Hawkfrost is their father, because it's probably mentioned somewhere else.**

**Anyway, I'm still open to any new characters that you want me to have in here, just say their name/design in a review and what kind of part you want them to have!**

**I would think that Bloodpaw sounds like Hakudoshi from Inuyasha (except less calm, more hatred, and a little more like a girl), and at a warrior's age, she sounds like Kagura (same show, still sounds less calm).**

**Thanks, so see y'all when I see y'all!**

**And I feel I must notify you that I DO NOT WORK WELL WITH TYPING ON A PHONE.**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

-Mind Speaker-

* * *

Jayfeather beckoned the traveling cats to a halt. Stormpaw expected the blind medicine cat to be glaring at him, but Jayfeather was looking past him. Behind the group stood a small, black-furred tom with a ginger belly and green eyes. "Robinpaw," murmured Jayfeather.

_Robinpaw?_ Stormpaw blinked.

The medicine cat apprentice padded in front of his mentor, who gazed at him intently. After a brief moment, Jayfeather nodded and turned around. "I have to go back to the clan. Robinpaw will take my place. Reedwhisker, make sure every cat is safe."

"Of course," the Riverclan deputy assured him. "Safe travels back."

Jayfeather exchanged a brief glance with Stormpaw. "Keep yourself under control," he muttered when the others began to move on. "If it starts happening, Robinpaw can help you. Otherwise, put as much distance between you and the others as possible. Do you understand me?"

Stormpaw hesitantly nodded, and the medicine cat gave his apprentice a hard stare before returning the way they came.

There was a long silence as the cats kept walking, until Trilliumpaw trailed behind with Stormpaw. Robinpaw padded next to him as well, but remained silent. The white she-cat's red streaks down her back shone in the sunlight. "What did Jayfeather say?"

"Wha- Oh, uh..." Stormpaw looked away. "Nothing."

But the crimson-eyed tom found himself leaning away as Robinpaw stared at him with wide, prying eyes. He shook his fur flat and avoided Robinpaw's gaze, too. "Do you want to say something?"

Without a vocal answer, the dark-furred apprentice leaped in front of him, his eyes narrowed with his claws unsheathed. Stormpaw stepped back, resisting the urge to assume the same position. Robinpaw seemed to be trying to growl, but no sound came from his throat. The rest of the patrol seemed to not notice, and even Trilliumpaw had kept walking. She looked to where Stormpaw should have been, and cheerfully mewed, "Well, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to!"

"Is she insane?" Stormpaw murmured.

_"No. To her, we are right next to her."_

Stormpaw whirled around. "What was that?" he turned to Robinpaw, who still held his hostile stance.

"Um... did you hear that?"

Robinpaw didn't respond, instead he fell further behind Stormpaw. The dark-brown striped apprentice blinked, but his eyes opened several steps ahead of where he'd stood. He seemed to be still walking, Trilliumpaw was still acting like nothing happened, and Robinpaw padded at the same distance he had drawn back to, gazing ahead with an unreadable emotion. Trilliumpaw's voice caused Stormpaw to snap from his bewildered thoughts. "Hey, Stormpaw! Come on, we have to catch up!"

She flicked her scarlet tail to the others, advancing without a thought to look back, until Havenpaw stopped and mewed something to Grasspaw. Tawneypelt glanced behind her at them before the Riverclan apprentice trailed behind with Stormpaw, Trilliumpaw, and Robinpaw, all of which purposefully didn't catch up with the rest of the travelers. Grasspaw followed his mentor more closely instead, not taking much of a liking to any of the others. Completely avoiding looking at Stormpaw, Havenpaw yawned. "Can someone remind me again of why we're doing this? And how come so many cats have to be on this dumb journey anyway?"

Stormpaw tensed, and Robinpaw glared at the black and white Riverclan apprentice. Trilliumpaw looked annoyed and offended, giving Havenpaw an excuse to hide a smug grin beneath a polite, yet superior-like, smile. The Windclan she-cat growled, "We're on a mission to find the Tribe of Rushing Water, because Bloodpaw is going to try and attack them. She's dangerous, so even Starclan advised us to bring as many cats as we could afford."

Havenpaw narrowed her eyes and widened her smirk. "If they're so desperate, why did they send a medicine cat's mute and untrained apprentice, an overreacting know-it-all, and the brother of the very cat we're hunting down?"

Stormpaw's crimson eyes flashed and Trilliumpaw looked shocked at the Riverclan she-cat's rudeness, but Robinpaw held the emotionless look in his eyes as he locked them with hers. Havenpaw ignored the other apprentices as she stepped in front of Robinpaw to block his path. He tried to calmly walk around her, but she placed a paw in his way. "He's not even doing anything to defend his clanmate! Probably far too busy keeping up his careless act. And to think this tom will be Thunderclan's medicine cat one day? Give me a break!"

Everything seemed quiet for a long moment. The wind picked up, and with the scent of the warriors far up ahead, and with Reedwhisker away from his apprentice, Havenpaw was scotch-free. Robinpaw trembled, and Stormpaw saw his clanmate's claws peek out from his paws. He wanted to push Havenpaw aside, so Robinpaw could calm down, but she hissed at him before jeering at Robinpaw again. "I, for one, can't wait until Jayfeather dies! Then any clan can force you from your territory without having to worry about any of you healing from your wounds! I mean, come on, you really expect to be of any use to your clan when all you can do is walk around without saying a-"

Claws slit through the dirt as Robinpaw lunged at Havenpaw, who shrieked in alarm. Despite his small size, Robinpaw pinned the Riverclan she-cat to the ground and leaned his muzzle close to hers, baring his fangs, claws just about to pierce her shoulders, green eyes glaring as though to mutter through gritted teeth, 'say that again!'

Trilliumpaw grabbed Robinpaw by the scruff and lifted him off Havenpaw before gently laying him down on his side. He scrambled to get to his paws, but the Windclan apprentice placed a soft paw on his shoulder, and after a moment, he relaxed. Robinpaw's eyes lost there emotion again and he avoided every cat's gaze. He mouthed something, but no noise came out. It looked like it could have just been an ashamed mew of submission. Havenpaw seemed a little shaken, but when Stormpaw turned to her, she narrowed her eyes into slits. "Was that all it took to make him crack? Of course, I didn't suspect a fight out of him, but... that's hardly something to call it."

She turned tail and took a few smug pawsteps towards where the others had disappeared to before glancing back at Stormpaw. "Oh, and I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing your sister again. It must be_ ever so_ hard to deal with the clans when no cat here but Bloodpaw can even stand looking at you. See you, freak!"

With that, she cheerfully pranced after the warriors, leaving Stormpaw to help a shaken Robinpaw who leaned on his shoulder, teeth still gritted, while Trilliumpaw tracked the others by there distant scent after several minutes of silence, thought, and doubt.

* * *

**FIRST ORDER OF BIUZINESSES: CLEAR ANY ACTIONS THAT MAY HAVE OCCURRED AGAINST HAVENPAW'S NAME.**

**Shiny: First, in defense of Havenpaw, we call to the front of the court, Reedwhisker of Riverclan! Tell us, Reedwhisker, what do you have to say to clear your apprentice of any charges?**

**Reedwhisker: Is this really necessary?**

**Shiny: Yes.**

**Reedwhisker: Uh... well, Havenpaw's been in range of Breezepelt for at least a day now, so I'm sure any cat would act like she did after such a terrible, dreadful, remorse encounter.**

***Crowd of clan cats, loners, kittypets, and any random animals we scooped up from New York City's sewers start booing, as they have read Warriors: series two and approve of Breezepelt's douche-bag-ish attitude as it built character***

**Shiny: ORDER IN THE COURT! *bangs her desk with the Gavel (mallet thingy that judges use), which looks slightly odd when a cat is doing it, as she is a cat when addressing the matter at hand* We now call to the front, Robinpaw of Thunderclan! **

**Robinpaw: ...**

**Shiny: What do you have to say about Havenpaw's recent behavior?**

**Robinpaw: ...**

**Shiny: Ok, how about anything you may have said or done to her to give her a reason to act as she did?**

**Robinpaw: ...**

**Shiny: Anything at all?**

**Robinpaw: ...**

**Shiny: Ugh, never mind. Against Havenpaw, we call to the front, Stormpaw of Thunderclan!**

**Stormpaw: Wait, I though you wanted Trilliumpaw before me.**

**Shiny: She's got stage fright, and possibly is in the dirt-place hyperventilating at the moment.**

**Stormpaw: Ok then. She got on all our nerves, but she had no right to be targeting Robinpaw. He didn't do anything to her, as far as I know, and I've known him my whole life. And Reedwhisker's 'Breezepelt-disease', or whatever he called it, is nonsense. Havenpaw, or any other cat on that journey, could stand Breezepelt at the time.**

**Shiny: Well, I would call another defense to Havenpaw, but no cat has been payed- I MEAN has volunteered. And since this has taken up much more time then it should have, let us call Havenpaw to the front.**

**Havenpaw: CAN SOME CAT PLEASE TELL ME WHY WE'RE IN COURT? First of all, we're cats, we shouldn't have any idea what court is. Second of all, why is this court session judged by the WRITER OF THIS STORY? Third of all, how do we even know who she is? Forth, what am I guilty for? Every cat knows I did it, so-**

**Shiny: A WISE CHOICE INDEED, Havenpaw. Admitting to the crime has built you character, and has been an imperfectly unreasonable waist of time! See you in the story!**

**Havenpaw: HOW IN THE NAME OF STARCLAN WILL ANY OF US SEE YOU?!**

* * *

**Right. I will explain that court incident, and why it exists. Havenpaw, as far as I know, has no characterization. She has no known personality, so I made up one of my own. She is mentioned in the Allegiances of a few of the newest books of Warriors, but she hasn't appeared anywhere, I don't think. So the court thingy was to explain a few things about how I have no idea how to use her as a character (and that, dear readers, is my excuse for having no idea why I put a court session in a chapter conclusion, or whatever these are).**

**Anyway, I'm glad to post another chapter of this, and I will try to be spamming away on my keyboard tomorrow to post a bunch of new chapters on the Golden Sun series, as I have a snow day! Well, t****echnically it will be a blizzard day. Yay.**

**Remember to look out for more chapters, enjoy the present ones, and leave a review saying what you think about this series! Also, still open to new characters of your choice; just say in a review a name, breed, design, and personality, and I shall fit your character into dis story!**

**See y'all when I see y'all!**

**-Shiny**

**(Recovering from immense inhale from belief that this unsaved document was lost, when all I'd really done was figure out how to open a new tab with the keyboard)**

**(This conclusion is longer then the chapter)**

**...**

**(CUE THE RICK ROLL! DA DA DA ****DAAAAAAA****)**

**(Autocorrect says that ****DAAAAAAA is ****AARDVARK)**

**(Ok, I'm done)**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

-Sealed Fate-

* * *

_Stormpaw's eyes snapped open when an earsplitting shriek filled the air. He yelped and looked around, only to wish he hadn't. Lightning shot through a blood-red sky, striking a nearby tree. It burst into flames and fell, spreading the fire throughout the open field he stood in. _

_Helplessly calling out for other cats, but something in his mind told him that no cat would answer. But that wasn't all it told him. _

_As his eyes fell on the clan territories below him, the way it felt to see a barren wasteland with no hope of nature ever showing its face in the dirt after being watered with the scarlet rain, a feeling swept through him that he didn't expect to feel. Despite how many times he lay awake at night trying to keep his claws sheathed, he knew that not too deep down, he wouldn't find it hard to cut the nearest throat in the apprentices den, and be able to forgive himself for it._

_That feeling was the closest thing he could compare to what he felt now, looking at what his mind processed as his doing. He liked, even enjoyed, the thought that he was all it took to destroy what his parents couldn't._

_Parents? He stopped himself and traced back in his thoughts. The only thing he'd ever known about his parents was that Mapleshade was his mother, but he never gave a thought about his father. To him, no cat seemed to have a fatherly image towards him._

_Suddenly, he found himself looking around for Bloodpaw. It wasn't clear why, but he wanted to find his sister, who, sure enough, stood several fox-lengths from him. The golden tortoiseshell turned to look at him, with her crimson eyes opened so wide that they made her look fairly insane._

_She threw down an older cat, a tiger-striped tom. His shocked, amber gaze was all Stormpaw needed to immediately discover who the cat was._

_Bramblestar!_

_Stormpaw stared at his mentor's beaten-down body, covered in scratches that leaked blood down his fur. Bloodpaw held her gaze on her brother. "Go on, I made sure this one was alive enough so you could give it to him yourself."_

_He caught his breath. Then, without warning, his claws slid out. He lunged at his leader and slashed his throat. A heartbeat was the only sound that hit his ears in the moment. A flash of red, painfully obvious to identify, stained his eyes. He flinched and shut them tightly. Twitching and shaking, he slowly opened them, but his eyes didn't meet the barren land, and his mentor's lifeless body at the end of a trail of blood started from his paws. Instead, the ash-covered territories, the yowls of other voices pleading for attackers to stop, the body of Bramblestar, they were all gone. But the blood remained. It still clung to his fur, claws, and the ground around him._

_Bloodpaw faced him where she had stood, but her psychotic expression had faded to a calm, passionate gaze. Stormpaw finally found his voice, and he wanted to scream at her, do something to make her understand how he would have felt anywhere but here. All he could bring himself to say was, "Are you real? Is that you, sister?"_

_She nodded. Her voice was exactly like her face, but still hoarse and sharp. "We're both dreaming, but we're just as real here as we are awake. I had to endure a long wait in the Dark Forest for you to fall asleep. You ought to stop thinking about everything at night, it's not good for your health."_

_"Why were you there?" The questions seemed to ask themselves without Stormpaw's control._

_"I didn't go there myself," she replied. "Hawkfrost summoned me. I have to tell you something important he told me."_

_When he remained silent, she hung her head. "About what will happen when we die."_

_Her last word pierced Stormpaw like a thorn. Now that he realized it, his sister seemed to be feeling the same way. "We were born to the Dark Forest. We may be able to live in the first world like other living cats, but we are partially dead, ourselves. Just like our parents. So when we are to die once more, no matter what we do in these lives of ours to spill blood or keep it from spilling, we will disappear forever from any world without a chance to be a spirit."_

_Stormpaw snapped his crimson eyes open wide. "No... why..."_

_"All that will happen, is we will die."_

_With that, Stormpaw's vision began to blacken, and his voice cracked. "Why?! Why does that have to happen to us?!"_

* * *

"Wake up."

A harsh meow woke Stormpaw up with a start. He opened tired eyes to Reedwhisker. The Riverclan deputy prodded him with a forepaw, and he hesitantly got to his paws. The sharp pain that ran through him moments ago was gone, just like the barren territories, just like the dream, just like his sister. Glancing around, he remembered where the group of traveling cats had stopped to rest last night, under a great oak tree with large roots around it. Trilliumpaw padded around a root to his left, and grinned. "Come on, sleepyhead! We have to keep moving!"

"Uh... right."

But the sinking feeling in his chest hadn't faded like the pain. It flooded his mind as he dragged his paws after his companions.

_Is that really what's going to happen to me? I... won't even have a second chance._

* * *

**TER BEH CONTINYEHD.**

**(In another chapter)**

**I find this chapter forced and unjustified. Probably because I was watching anime at the same time I was typing this. Well, gotta get one out, so here's another chapter.**

**Sorry it was mostly his dream and stuffs, but I thought it'd be kind of cool if Bloodpaw told him what Hawkfrost told her. They are supposed to be close siblings, and Stormpaw can't deny it to himself that he misses her, even though he was young-ish when they were separated.**

**Clearing something up here that might cause a little confusion, Bramblestar has not died. He was not in that dream, that was just an illusion. The only real things in there were Bloodpaw and Stormpaw.**

**I'm just spouting random things that can be connected to this because I'm bored. Well, be sure to leave a review saying what you think of this story and chapter, and if you want a custom character put in here, be sure to say their design, name, personality, and all that stuff in a review as well!**

**See y'all when I see y'all!**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

-The Time Skip-

**A quick notice for this chapter. I have literally no more ideas for anything other than this one to fit into chapters until they get to the Tribe, so when this chapter starts they'll be able to see the mountain. So as for a few adjustments, they will have built more character and stuff, which will be explained in the following:**

**Stormpaw: He's putting much more effort into keeping himself under control, but it gets more difficult every moment. He tends to stick together with Trilliumpaw, but Robinpaw stays close as well. He spaces out a lot, mainly when he thinks about his sister and what she said Hawkfrost had told her.**

**Trilliumpaw: She's observant of when Stormpaw takes off to clear his mind, and is pretty worried about him, as he always finds a way to avoid talking about it. So she does her best to make herself as supportive as she can, even though she doesn't know what's wrong.**

**Robinpaw: He's makes it clear that he doesn't want to speak with Havenpaw, and act even more emotionless than ever. Some of the others have reasons to think Jayfeather told him to watch Stormpaw, but Stormpaw knows, without doubt, that this is the truth. And though Stormpaw tries to avoid him too, Robinpaw doesn't allow it.**

**Bloodpaw: Hasn't been sighted or heard from since talking to Stormpaw in their dreams, the passage to which was accessed by Hawkfrost.**

**Havenpaw: Has taken her crappy attitude down a few notches, and stays clear of Robinpaw just as much as he does of her.**

**Grasspaw: Despite still seeing herself as an individual to those who aren't from Shadowclan, she thinks, and isn't afraid to show that she does think, that Robinpaw and Havenpaw would be great for each other, but no other cat thinks so, and Havenpaw thinks she's joking.**

**All the apprentices are obviously over apprentice age now, but they **

**That's about it, so here's your time-skip, almost a year and a half past last chapter!**

* * *

"Stormpaw!"

The dark-striped apprentice snapped his attention back, only to fix his clearing vision onto Reedwhisker. The Riverclan deputy narrowed his eyes. "Get your head out of the clouds and keep up. _'Almost'_ doesn't mean _'we're there'_ "

Stormpaw blinked as Robinpaw gave him a hard gaze, and Trilliumpaw called him over to where she'd sat down along with the other cats. As he approached, she flicked her tail. "We're stopping for the night. Reedwhisker said we'll be able to get there by midday tomorrow, as long as we keep up that pace."

He sat down, but his fur still prickled as he felt Robinpaw's stare hot on his pelt from behind him as the medicine cat apprentice lay down with his head on his paws. Trilliumpaw eyed him. "Stormpaw, what's going on? Please don't avoid this again," she retorted as his crimson eyes broke the lock with her emerald ones. "We may not be from the same clan, but we were both chosen by Starclan to do this together. You can tell me, you know that right?"

Stormpaw really didn't want to make her feel like he didn't trust her, but there wasn't any other way to put his doubts. He was positive that any cat, even Trilliumpaw, wouldn't take it well if they knew he felt like a Dark Forest cat would; if they knew he felt at home with something beneath his claws. He gave her the most realistic smile he could imagine he was making. "It's nothing, really. I'm just, er... well,"

"It's about your sister, isn't it?"

He flinched. She was half right, he was uncomfortable about knowing they'd come all this way to stop, if not kill Bloodpaw. Images of her kept flashing through his mind, and he couldn't help but feel a sibling's bond with her, as if she never left after Bramblestar took him in. But he didn't need Trilliumpaw, or Robinpaw (who had been projecting himself as a creepy stalker for the last year and a half), to know that.

"No, and I don't call her my sister."

That night, Stormpaw thought of the day which was sure to come soon, when he may have fight his sister, when she could die, when she would have no choice to live as a spirit of her given life, when her life would forever end into blackness, never to see the world differently.

* * *

Before realizing he'd fallen asleep, Stormpaw woke up to a cat shrieking. His eyes snapped open and he leaped to his paws. "What's happening?!" he yowled to the nearest cat to him, Mothwing.

The medicine cat stopped from bounding to the source of the cry, Robinpaw rushing ahead with a bundle of herbs in his mouth. "It's Breezepelt! He's been bitten by something! Robinpaw, do you have Ash Tree seeds, Juniper, or Yew?"

_Some cat is injured!_ Stormpaw twitched.

The red-bellied apprentice turned to her briefly to show he had everything she'd listed before darting off again. Stormpaw followed him, his heart pounding.

They finally found the black warrior, he lay as if fallen off the trunk he'd slept on. He was shaking and thrashing his head, his teeth clenched, and his neck was tense. Robinpaw dropped the herbs beside him and prodded at the warrior's neck lightly. Breezepelt yelped and his head gave a spasm. Crowfeather seemed like his paws were frozen, and his eyes were full of horror. Mothwing watched closely as Robinpaw parted the Windclan tom's neck fur, and she stopped him after a moment. "There! Right there, I see fang marks. Too small for a snake, what could be this small that could have done this?"

"A spider." Tawnypelt's eyes scanned the ground quickly. "It's small enough, and plenty are poisonous. At least I'm assuming it's poison, but those bite marks are red, and I doubt that's blood."

Robinpaw gave the herbs to Mothwing, who immediately looked for one that would work for this, while he knocked Crowfeather aside and pounced on a small, quickly moving, black spot next to him. After removing his paws, Robinpaw revealed a shiny black spider. Mothwing fussed over Breezepelt, already having examined every herb and was testing the Ash Tree seeds.

Breezepelt's eyes were cloudy by the time Stormpaw looked back at him, and Robinpaw beckoned Mothwing over. He looked at her with questioning eyes and her breath caught at the sight of the spider. "That can't be..."

Stiffly, she stumbled back over to the bitten warrior. Crowfeather scrambled back to his paws and stared in panic at his son, feeling more emotion he'd shown for Breezepelt than ever before. "What can't be?! He'll be alright, won't he?!"

"I don't know!" Mothwing snapped at him, her voice cracking. "I haven't dealt with these before!"

"_You're a medicine cat!_" Crowfeather shrieked. "_Save my son!_"

Robinpaw pushed them both away and he approached Breezepelt with an herb that Stormpaw and, judging from her bewildered expression, Mothwing didn't know anything about. It was a small, sharp-edged, ginger leaf without a stem, but greening at the tips. The apprentice slit open the leaf to expose it's thickness, and a dark grey substance leaked out of the cut. He then dabbed the leaf with the substance onto the red fang marks.

Breezepelt gasped, but his eyes grew calm. The azure orbs slid until they locked with Crowfeather's. His father's voice trembled. "Breezepelt?"

"Dad..."

Robinpaw glanced at Crowfeather, and ushered him to step back with his tail. Breezepelt let his head fall back, his eyes no more than calm slits.

"Help... me," he whimpered hoarsely, before his heaving chest slowed and eventually stopped, eyes glazed over, his mouth, for one time, showing a weak, yet peaceful first smile.

* * *

After a long moment, Crowfeather yowled. He shoved Robinpaw down. "_What did you just do?!_"

Robinpaw didn't answer, just gave the warrior a hard look. Mothwing stepped forward. "It wasn't his fault! That herb didn't kill him! I'm sure it was just to ease the pain!"

The medicine cat apprentice nodded at her, but Crowfeather hissed. "Medicine cats are supposed to heal! Not let a cat die easily! What are you good for if you couldn't save him?!"

Reedwhisker snapped at him. "The venom had already spread through his body. As I was on watch, I recall him only feeling the pain once he woke up, or woke up to the pain. Spider venom should take more than a moment, if not hours, to kick in. It must have bitten him a while ago."

Robinpaw flicked his ear to the dead spider near him, and Grasspaw nodded. "Then why was it still here when he woke up?"

Stormpaw crouched in front of the spider, but, as if a hallucination, he jumped back after seeing a mark on it. The first thought that crossed his mind was the reflection of his own crimson eye in the spider's shiny back, but he knew that was impossible.

Mothwing confirmed that. "No wonder Breezepelt acted like that! This is a Black Widow!"

Crowfeather flinched. "What?! But those are one of the most poisonous species of spider known of!"

Reedwhisker acknowledged him with a strict voice. "And that tree trunk he was sleeping on, it has webs in that crack on it. This thing could have and young. And from the looks of it, there's a lot more than this one."

Every cat's heart skipped a beat.

"We need to move, now."

Crowfeather protested fiercely. "I'm not leaving my son!"

"Crowfeather!" Reedwhisker responded with equal hostility. "He's gone! You can't do anything now!"

"I can give him my respects instead of leaving him in the open to become crow-food!"

A thick tension rose between the toms. Reedwhisker shook his head. "We can't risk more injuries. We need-"

Crowfeather didn't wait for the Riverclan deputy to finish. He shrieked at him and knocked Mothwing away from his son. "I won't leave him!"

Trilliumpaw yelped when the warrior deliberately dropped his paw into the deep crack in the trunk, and winced with a chaotic grin spreading across his face. "You can abandon him, but I won't. I'm going to see my son again! And now I know you can't stop me! _You can't even help me_!"

The black-furred warrior yanked his paw from the crack, and almost every cat, excluding Robinpaw and Reedwhisker, yowled as a much larger Black Widow clung to his arm. It fell, but it scuttled away quickly. Crowfeather looked pleased. "You can run now. Run away, Reedwhisker. But I'm finding my son!"

The warrior collapsed, showing every sign of prayer to die, but Reedwhisker glared at him. "If you want to die so bad, you didn't have to do it like this. But I hope you know, that even if you find regrets, you can't go back now. Robinpaw, stop. We can't stay here any longer."

Before any cat could protest, the deputy commanded, "Head for the mountains! Right now! This is what he wants!"

No matter how much agony every cat felt from it, Reedwhisker shoved them all towards the Tribe's homeland. Last to follow them, he gave Crowfeather one last, unreadable look before vanishing from the father's blurred vision.

* * *

**Wow, I went overboard here. God.**

**Ok, so I wanted some kind of sign for the other cats to think they were being warned, so I cat dying from a spider with a red mark was enough for me. Too bad I never put that in this chapter. Maybe I'll have to mention it at the finale.**

**I know Black Widows only attack when provoked, but there are high chances that Breezepelt messed up the web or something as he was sleeping on it. And it was dark when he found a place to sleep, so how was he supposed to see the web when he lay down?**

**My keyboard is a little hard to work with, as the keys are really thin, so typos have possibilities to show up.**

**If you have any ideas or requests for this story, I'll be glad to hear them and try and put them in here!**

**And let us all give a moment of silence to Breezepelt and Crowfeather, whose deaths I will probably get hate from, but I will change Crowfeather's way of death if someone speaks against this one.**

**-Shiny**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

-Almost at the End-

* * *

No cat spoke for the rest of the day. Trilliumpaw hide her tears to comfort Stormpaw, who was still tense and shaken from witnessing Crowfeather committing suicide to be with his son. He hadn't seen such hatred before what the Windclan warrior's eyes had directed to Robinpaw and Mothwing. The medicine cats ha done what they could for Breezepelt, but the effects of the Black Widow's bite had already taken its toll on him long before he woke up.

And though Stormpaw's mind was blurred as always, part of him felt agitated by the mark on the spider's back. Some kind of shape in a scarlet color. It was like looking at another deadly enemy identified by it's crimson symbol. It was almost impossible to imagine how Robinpaw was feeling, though. The black apprentice was as emotionless as if nothing had happened, but it was almost nightfall and he hadn't broken down yet, so Stormpaw could only assume that he really wasn't fazed.

The dark-striped apprentice jumped at Trilliumpaw's voice, no matter how soothing she made it. "Are you at least ready?"

He sighed. "I don't know if I ever would be ready to kill my sister... I'm just relieved we never got too close."

"From the way Bramblestar described it at the first gathering after you joined, I assumed she ran off just before he brought you to camp."

"That's what he told me."

She gazed a him sternly. "And she just headed for the Tribe without even coming back for you? That's awful, even for her standards!"

Stormpaw almost nodded his head, but he simply turned is head. "Can we talk about something else?"

Trilliumpaw looked taken aback. He noticed Robinpaw glance back at him with a cold glare, as if processing the one sentence as a cover up with more to it than Stormpaw meant.

"Y-yeah, sure! Sorry, I should have known you wouldn't want to-" she trailed off. "Um... so what do you will happen once we get up there?"

The Thunderclan and Windclan apprentices, except for Robinpaw, who was still stalking, looked up at the great mountain towering over them. They stood several minutes worth of travel of the ground on the narrow passage that led to the top, with plenty left. Reedwhisker meowed over his shoulder for them to keep moving, as it had been a whole day since he wanted them to arrive. Their pace, as one could easily guess, had slowed from the incident with Breezepelt and his father.

"I don't know."

Grasspaw started waking backwards to talk with them, but after almost tripping and falling off the mountainside, he walked next to Stormpaw instead. "Bloodpaw had moons to get here before we even started. And she if she was able to kill Amberpaw and Greystripe, and Starclan knows who else on the way here, she'll be hard for even all of us to defeat."

Robinpaw slightly bristled as Havenpaw slowed her paw steps and padded beside them, a little too obviously attempting to push him aside in the process, but he held his ground stiffly and she decided to ignore him. "And she wants to kill the Tribe of Rushing Water, too. So-"

"Hold it!" Stormpaw was surprised by his tone, but didn't change it. "When did she say she wanted to kill the entire Tribe? Bramblestar said all she wanted was to get rid of Stormfur!"

Robinpaw tensed at his words, once again taking each one seriously.

"And you think the Tribe will sit back and let her do it?" Havenpaw narrowed her gaze. "I may not have met them, but they still sound like some kind of a clan. Stormfur is one of them, no matter if he has clan blood or not! They still won't let it be spilled!"

Stormpaw blinked, and acknowledged that she was right.

But not long after had Trilliumpaw made an irritated face. "Wait a minute," her voice was sharp and ticked-off. "How come ALL of us are trying to fit in a row, here?!

Havenpaw and Grasspaw awkwardly laughed, then made room for the first three to participate in the conversation by finding something to talk about ahead with the other cats, now lead by a Reedwhisker no acting like a military officer **(Whatever that means to them, I guess. Let's just say I lent Trilliumpaw a human dictionary and leave it at that)**.

* * *

**Alright, here's a short chapter. They discuss the future and how little they know of it! I herby declare chapter 9... A WASTE OF TIME.**

**I was bored. And Reedwhisker's wearing one of those cool general helmets with the Riverclan symbol on it. **

**Robinpaw keeps being a stalker, but for a PERFECTLY good reason... that will be explained in a certain chapter that's coming uuuppp! :3**

**Stormpaw WAS going to react in some way when Havenpaw was talking about blood-shed, but I guess not.**

**OH ALSO, I kinda want to make a new Fanfiction series on Pokémon, but as I'm already making on for the Pokémon Adventures! manga, (Tests of the Legends and Lost, guess how long it took 10-year-old me to come up with that name? Two whole mernurts!) I don't plan on making a new Pokémon fanfic until that one is done.**

**This new Pokémon fanfic will be based on my recollection of a series I wanted to film with a group of friends, where I made a sort-of-plot-line and we dress up as trainers and follow the yellow-brick plot. But, no. We never filmed the first episode. I'm glad I didn't make THAT monstrosity, though, because at the time I was into these jeans I had with white stars all over them (SKINNY JEANS, MIGHT I ADD), and I swear, I would have worn them and put that crap on YouTube. I pride myself on my laziness. I'm too much of a sweat-pants and baggy shirts person now, but I had a regretful childhood. Oh... So many regrets...**

**Anyway, it'll have a new region with completely new characters with a completely new everything except for these things:**

**(I'm making these lists a lot lately)**

**1\. There are Pokémon.**

**2\. There is a professor.**

**3\. There is an evil organization.**

**4\. The Pokémon are our friends, to the main characters and many others.**

**That's about it, I'll probably remember something later though. Ah, who cares.**

**So the point of this Pokémon thing is this: DO YOU PEOPLE WANT ME TO MAKE IT? Leave a review saying what you think I should do, and If you have an questions for further details, but I won't give away any plot spoilers.**

**And, of course, the regular stuff! Please remember to leave a review saying what you think of this chapter, and this series, and a few extra questions for you guys:**

**-What do you want to happen when they reach the top? Will all of the Tribe of H20 Advertisement be killed? Will they stop Bloodpaw before she ends another life?**

**-And, who is your favorite character in this series so far? It could be an original or one of my own, as I have tweaked all of there attitudes a little.**

**Ok, so you don't have to do all of that in one review, but the most important things to me right now are the happenings of Chapter 10, and that Pokémon series!**

**This thing is long.**

**See y'all when I see y'all!**

**-Shiny**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

-The Storm of Blood-

**Welcome to (hell) Monday! Officially the crappiest day of the week! From the school's ritual torture of education to getting up early causing your normal emotions to be sucked into a black hole and be replaced with a shitty attitude making nobody like you and making you alone for a day, this particular day is sure to give you a living frozen hell (which, to me, is worse than a netherworld, as I hate the cold)! What could possibly make this nightmare less of a pain in the ass to sit through? Maybe... A FINAL CHAPTER OF SOMETHING!**

**So grab some popcorn, grab a chair, and grab your mom and prepare for the last chapter of Every Storm Runs out of Rain!**

* * *

~part I~

Stormpaw forced himself not to tremble as he and the rest of the chosen cats climbed their way to the plateau parts of the mountain where the Tribe of Rushing Water lived. What would his eyes fall on once he looked over that last set of rocks? Almost every thought that coursed through his mind was enough to make his neck fur curl. And every few moments, he could have sworn he'd just seen the world around him turn to black and white with blemishes of predictable scarlet. He couldn't remember a step he'd taken in the last hour where his paws hadn't almost frozen to the ground and he'd almost screamed he couldn't go any further. But something was stopping him from mentioning whatever was happening to him, no matter how close he came to it.

The sun glared into his eyes when their heads poked over the level surface. He dipped his head back until his eyes could adjust, but it was too late after several of his traveling companions gasped for him to keep himself from witnessing their shock.

They were too late.

His visions hadn't been in vain. Sprayed out before him was enough shed blood to make his own roar in his ears. So many unfamiliar cats wore horrified expressions as they lay motionless on the hard stone. Reedwhisker yowled in disbelief. The sun hid behind thick, dark clouds, making the stone and sky look black and white, just as Stormpaw had seen flashes of on the climb. But as the sunlight faded, a new source of light caught the cats' eyes.

Streams of fire crackled around the plateau, some catching flame to several of the dead cats, including the dark grey pelt of an old tom. Stormpaw almost mewed 'Greystripe,' but he knew that cat couldn't be here, now, or like this.

Tawneypelt rushed up to the grey tom and batted at the flames until they ceased. "Stormfur!"

Stormpaw's mind whirled. This was Stormfur? The cat Bloodpaw sought to murder all this time? Surely he couldn't be dead?

"Stormfur!" Tawneypelt yelped again.

The tom opened amber eyes in slits, both nearly glazed over. "You... no, get... out! She-"

He coughed up blood that trickled down his cheek, and Mothwing and Robinpaw rushed up beside him. The Windclan medicine cat gazed at him with strained, but hard eyes. "You shouldn't talk. Robinpaw, check if any others survived!"

Robinpaw dashed off for another cat's body, switching to another after a few moments and a hesitation. Stormfur gasped for air after another cough. "Get out! ..._She's still here_!" He fought not to choke on the last three words before collapsing, but his eyes slid over to the waterfall.

Stormpaw's heart sank. He knew exactly who 'she' was. As he swung his head around to glare at the waterfall, waiting to catch her scent, his pupils shrank. The pool below the falls was just as stained in scarlet as Stormfur's pelt. It was more than he could bare, and he struggled to keep his claws sheathed.

Trilliumpaw backed away, Robinpaw looked up from the last few cats he was checking, Reedwhisker hissed, and Stormpaw felt himself shaking. A shape had revealed itself from behind the waterfall, a shape that glowed amber and gold, silhouetting a cat coming nearer and nearer.

Stormpaw forgot to breathe as the fall's water burst into steam, outlined by an infinite, moving flame. Before Stormpaw could make out a cat's patterns and pelt, he saw a reflection of his crimson eyes in the center of the flames. A ginger paw stepped from the steam, searing the rocky floor into a layer of charcoal. Bloodpaw, now a warrior's age, like her brother, stepped a red-stained paw towards the cats.

~part II~

Trilliumpaw turned to Stormpaw, completely unsure of what he could be thinking. But though his eyes were hidden from her, his mouth was hung open and his limbs were stiff. She scolded herself for expecting a different reaction. She'd hoped that by the time the journey was over, she would know what Stormpaw thought about. He just seemed so closed up to every cat, but she couldn't sense any sign of hidden feelings when he stared at his sister. Trilliumpaw suddenly jerked her head to Bloodpaw.

This was the first time Trilliumpaw had seen the tortoiseshell she-cat. It seemed impossible for a cat to be engulfed in flames up to her neck as she was, or it seemed so until Trilliumpaw noticed the fire blazed from her claws, and any blood dripping from them wasn't scorched before it fell to the ground, where it was immediately fueled into the fire. The Windclan cat could have sworn she'd seen the flames rise up Bloodpaw's neck like flooding water. And up until the flames, it seemed her fur was a darker, more flame-like color than the rest of her golden patches and pelt.

"It's been a while, Stormpaw. You seem to be doing well, considering... the circumstances."

Stormpaw flinched. "What did... how could you _do this_?!" he hissed.

Robinpaw tensed, once again silently scanning his every word. Bloodpaw shook her paw, painting the stone with more foul red liquid. Stormpaw's eye twitched, and she shook it again. "Yes, I can assume you would be a little upset about the death of the one you were named after. Mapleshade didn't mind his grandfather too much, herself, before he tainted his bloodline further. But I didn't come here to kill the lot of them," she glanced at him coldly. "They fought back, so they were bleeding before I knew it."

The tiger-striped apprentice was horrified. How much could a cat change in not much over a year? And how much had she used her powers to bring them this close to her demise? As if reading his thoughts, and with a tinge of dread, he watched as she answered almost all of his questions. "Of course I had to fight a few badgers here or there, and at one point, Starclan cats attacked me. But they forgot that we're partially dead, Stormpaw," her voice quivered with excitement, and her tail swished. Her eyes were wide, as was her fanged grin. She looked just as insane as she had in their dream. "So I could just as easily fight them, too.

And you can't honestly hate me for this, brother."

Reedwhisker snarled at her. "Do you mind if I interrupt your reunion? All these cats have died here, and for what?! Have you so little sanity that you would destroy dozens of lives for your sake?!"

"_Appledusk was poison to my bloodline! And so would the rest of his filthy kin be! Stormfur was the last of it_... and now it's gone," she concluded with a superior smirk at the tribe cat, and Mothwing shaking over his lifeless body. "Mapleshade's future was ruined by his lack of sanity. I'll give up my own for my mother's life!"

Reedwhisker, Tigerheart, Tawneypelt, and every apprentice looked equally enraged, but Stormpaw was the one to lunged at her with unsheathed claws at last. But she swatted him away with one paw, leaving a deep, dark grey flame and claw mark from his face down to his shoulder. He skidded over the rock, and forced himself to his paws again, barely ignoring the screeching pain from the wound. "You're despicable, Bloodpaw. I'm glad I'm not proud to call you my sister."

Bloodpaw narrowed her cold eyes. "I prefer Bloodflame, if you don't mind. I don't even know why the clans gave me an apprentice name in the first place. Not like I care. But right now, Bloodpaw's not appropriate."

"Get back," he hissed to the clan cats, who willingly backed off, except for Trilliumpaw. "Get _back_!" He repeated to her, refusing to risk her life.

Mothwing ushered her away, and Stormpaw glared back at Bloodflame. "I don't care what you call yourself. It doesn't make you any closer to a cat."

Bloodflame laughed briefly and, like a whip, shot her large, blazing claws at him. "I don't want to fight you, brother, but I will if you try to avenge that filth!"

~part III~

Stormpaw yowled in pain, and he watched through squinted eyes as his own blood flew past him and landing on the stone, just before his head followed. The world grew blurry when he tried to see the golden tortoiseshell land, snarling at the other cats who tried to close in. His hearing almost left him, as well, but his heartbeat was loud in his ears.

"Why don't you use it, Stormpaw? Then maybe you'll stand a chance," her words were all that his mind processed, but he wasn't sure what she meant.

He couldn't speak, and Stormpaw gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, mouthing something that could have been a question, but he wasn't fully conscious yet.

He saw her flick her chipped ear. "You haven't used it yet? Your power? Come on, don't tell me you thought I was the only one? We're both born to Mapleshade and Hawkfrost, so whether you like it or not, you can do something like what I do. Of course, I have more practice. But you may have a chance if you use yours. Our father said it was stronger than mine, no matter if you haven't used it."

He finally recovered his speech, but his voice cracked as he yelled at her. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Just hurry up, Stormpaw! I don't want to kill you without a good fight!" The flames around her had spread up to her ears, and Stormpaw could almost sense her sanity depleting my the second.

"Or..." she steered her wild gaze towards Trilliumpaw. "There is always a way to get a cat to fight me."

Bloodflame leaped at the red-tailed she-cat, who yelped and shut her emerald eyes. Trilliumpaw heard Stormpaw scream in protest, but a rush of pain didn't come.

The only sound that hit her ears was a she-cat's wail and the crack of lightning. The ground became cold as she sensed the sun vanishing behind a mob of jet-black clouds.

She flung her eyes open again, and for a moment, everything seemed to freeze in slow motion. Bloodflame's fully-engulfed body hung in front of her, as if knocked away by an incredible force. Behind her was Stormpaw, who gleamed with a scarlet light, but jagged, unlike his sister's flame-like light. The same colored lightning streamed from his blinding claws. And just where Bloodflame had been, flashed a bolt of crimson lightning, giving off a blood-curdling electric jolt sound that sparked through Trilliumpaw's ears.

Bloodflame landed with the echo of her painful shriek, completely coated in burns. Her fire died out, but not before it rose to the start of her Stormpaw gasped for breath and leaned away from his sister, horror dawning over his face. As she stumbled to her paws again, she gave a weak laugh and faced him with increasing excitement.

"There it is! I finally known your true power!"

Stormpaw shook his head, half of which was to convince himself. "That wasn't me! I... I only-"

"Forget the clan's limits, Stormpaw!" she hissed, growing ever impatient. "You can't defeat me like a clan cat!"

"I am a clan cat, and I'll fight like one!"

Bloodflame slashed his face with her claws, though still not ignited. "You are a Dark Forest cat. _That_ is how you will fight."

Her eyes glanced at Reedwhisker and the others, who had started to rush in to help Stormpaw, and she slammed her forepaw to the ground. At this, flames burst from the cracked rocks and a blazing wall began to rise between the clan cats and the siblings.

"Stormpaw!" Trilliumpaw wailed, almost getting scorched before Robinpaw shoved her back.

The black-furred medicine cat gave Stormpaw a hard, encouraging gaze, just until the fire blocked them from sight.

Stormpaw's breath caught, his crimson eyes whirling to look for some opening in the wall to see what was happening on the other side, but in vain. Bloodflame stood between him and where his companions had been, still grinning. "This is our battle, brother. They will not interfere."

~part IV~

Her claws struck him again with rapid speed, but before she could avoid his own, his claws broke into lightning again. As he shot his front arm to her, they grew to be far larger than him, their back bolts streaming just over his head. He glared at her, even when her blood stained the ground with his.

If the clan cats were calling to him from over the wall of fire, Stormpaw didn't hear it. The roar of the flames and the echos of their yowls bounced around and back every moment, until neither cats could figure out what was happening first or next. The only thought that remained in their minds was to strike down the other, and each succeeded in this too many times.

Before long, both Stormpaw and Bloodflame were struggling to stand, gulping breaths of air between coughing on the smoke and spitting up blood. The too common scarlet liquid trickled down Bloodflame's front arms and from Stormpaw's forehead to his left shoulder. Bloodflame had now bared her fangs, also dripping from piercing her brother.

Stormpaw fought for enough breath to yell. "Bloodflame, stop! Don't you understand what you're doing?! All this for something that happened to Mapleshade? She let her hatred to the world cost her her own life, over what Appledust did years ago! Yes, it was a terrible thing to do to her, but why are you letting her drag you down with her? It's your life, or at least it was! Is there anything that I, or any other cat, can do to help you now?"

Bloodflame narrowed her eyes and her claws began to sear what little clean rock was left as they glowed a hot orange-red. But before her flames could erupt from their cage, her brother knocked her down and pinned her.

"Please don't! I've seen the changes in that fire! Bloodflame, you won't live if you use them again!"

She scoffed. "Neither will you! Yours may be better than mine, but you've used them just as much as I have all my life in the past two hours!"

Stormpaw felt tears flooding down his blood-splattered face, and they squinted to sorrowful slits. "I don't care!" he sobbed. "You're still my sister! I don't want you to have to live in pitch darkness because of me! Experiences like that can change cats, Bloodflame! I- I don't know what you'll start to believe if you spend the rest of eternity in nothing!"

Her eyes unexpectedly grew calm and she looked away. "I know, Stormpaw. That's... why I'm doing it. I've avenged our mother, but I was fully conscious through everything. It felt like the only thing keeping me going was my fire. But,"

Stormpaw blinked when fear flashed through her glazing eyes. "Did you loose yourself here?"

She flinched. After a long moment of hesitation, Bloodflame let her own tears shed and wash through those that fell from her brother's. "I could think. ...Thought that if I got rid of Appledusk and Greystripe's bloodline, things would be better for her."

Stormpaw wanted to say something -anything-, but he couldn't find the words, until she let her head fall, exposing her neck. "Do it. I'm done."

He gasped. "No!"

"NOW, Stormpaw!" she shut her eyes tightly. "End it!"

Stormpaw stared at her. "Why? How can you expect me to just let you run from what you've done? When you haven't even told me why you had to do it in the first place!"

Bloodflame glared at him, and the regret in her crimson eyes began to fade. "For our mother, unlike what you've been doing against her and our kin... since only a few days after your birth!"

She suddenly shoved him off her. He was flung back, but when he looked up again, taken by surprise, he found a burn mark searing onto his shoulder. The blood left on it was burned away, leaving him with a new, bleeding injury. The pain was almost too much to bare.

But he hadn't noticed it. There were flame marks on that injury. The fire wall was far from touching him. An amber light and crackling sound came from the feeling of his sister's changing heart beat.

Stormpaw looked up to rush of heat and a sinking feeling. Bloodflame's claws had burst into flames and engulfed her in fire.

~part V~

"Appledusk ruined Mapleshade's life," Bloodflame's voice quivered. "And Greystripe ruined my life. All I could do was use my time in this world to end their control of others' futures."

Her pupils shrank and the fire blazed with the shape of a giant phoenix. Instinctively, Stormpaw released the binds on the lightning and a roaring power surged through his veins. His claws scraped the rock, forming into bolts of lightning, encasing him in a electric dragon shape, just as large and terrifying as his sister's phoenix.

The siblings lunged at each other, their powers colliding with each other, sending a gust of wind rushing throughout the plateau. The wall of fire died with a hiss.

Stormpaw and Bloodflame, each determined to overpower the other, were oblivious to the shocked, processing, and hostile faces of the clan cats.

Bloodflame's phoenix called with a loud battle song, while Stormpaw's dragon made an electric-like roar. The clan cats could do no more than watch as a blinding light flashed from their clash.

* * *

Dark, dead grass crunched beneath Stormkit's ice-cold claws. He felt the presence of one other cat. It seemed almost like the presence of himself.

A large, azure-eyed, dark brown tiger-striped stared down at him coldly. "Get up."

Stormkit got to his tired paws. The cat's name came to his mind as if he'd known the cat forever. "Hawkfrost, when can we stop?"

_Why did I say that? ...Wha- why am I thinking that?_

Hawkfrost sheathed his claws. "Fine. You've had enough, I suppose. But we're not stopping this early tomorrow."

"O-ok," Stormkit stammered and dragged his paws after his father.

"I would have been better off with your sister."

"Where did she go?"

Hawkfrost scoffed. "What's with you today? I told you she was going to avenge your mother, or did you forget that?! Do you have that little brains that you can't even remember Mapleshade's death?"

_Mapleshade died, at least that's something that seems familiar._

"I honestly wanted you to go with Bloodkit, but she said you weren't ready. I suppose you aren't a match for Firestar, anyway."

_What?! I thought... I thought... No, Firestar _did _kill Mapleshade. What's going on?_

"Stupid kit," Hawkfrost muttered. "Lucky enough to be able to age here. A Dark Forest cat should be able to at least hit me, kit or not."

Stormkit followed his father shamefully. "Can I still catch up with Bloodkit?"

The azure eyes narrowed as Hawkfrost spun around at him. "She's been gone for three moons! Stormkit, you can't be this stupid! Where did I go wrong with you? Remember, every Dark Forest cat is convinced that she died from using the last of her flames on Firestar, or was killed by one of them! Either way, she's not coming back! Of course you can't catch up with her!"

Stormkit stepped back. "I... I'm-"

"I can't believe this, stuck with the lesser kit. _My _father ended up fine, but this is what I get?"

He kept walking, angrily talking to himself. Stormkit's heart sank.

_That's right. Bloodkit's been dead. How could I forget that?_

"Because this never happened."

A young she'cat's voice whispered calmly into his ear. Stormkit spun around, and his bright blue eyes lay on Bloodkit, though he didn't feel surprised or emotional to see her, as he should if she had been dead.

"What do you mean?"

She blinked her amber eyes at him. "None of this happened. It's a vision of what things would have been like if Greystripe died as well in his attempt to kill our mother."

"So Greystripe is dead? Then why are you dead? Why did you go after Firestar?" All of his memories from their battle flooded his mind once again.

"In this... 'forth world', you could call it, I am dead. I died trying to kill Firestar, who never died in the Great Battle here and who came with Greystripe. In revenge for Greystripe, he killed Mapleshade. So I tried to end him. But I used my flames against a too large ambush, so I died. And Hawkfrost would be left to raise you in the Dark Forest. You would never have known Bramblestar as you do, or Jayfeather, or Trilliumpaw. But you wouldn't have the need to kill, because you would be free to do it. You would just be too weak to do so."

"Then... why did you show me this?" Stormkit was baffled.

Bloodkit shook her head. "I didn't create this. It's being shown to me, too. You could stay here if you wanted to, or you could wake up. But if you leave this world, I can't say you'll be ok with what awaits you."

"Why?! What's happened there?"

"It's your choice to see."

With that, Bloodkit, the Dark Forest, and everything around him vanished in a pitch-black cloud.

* * *

~Part VI~

Stormpaw coughed, though unaware of what he'd coughed up. His eyes were either shut tight, or he's lost his sight. For the first time in his life, he hoped they were crimson, not his father's azure color. He felt the support of cats to either side of him, and their faint voices were slowly restored to his ears.

"...What did you bring her for?"

"He couldn't have wanted us to leave her."

_That was... Trilliumpaw._

"That doesn't mean we couldn't."

"Reedwhisker, you had me surprised when you came to Stormpaw first, but she had a life too."

_Had... who did they..._

Stormpaw snapped his eyes open, coming face to face with the last cat he remembered seeing, yet her eyes were closed. Bloodflame was held to her weak paws by Trilliumpaw, who had a black ring around her eye, and Robinpaw, who looked even more cut up and injured.

The scent of Reedwhisker was to his left, and Tigerheart to his right. The Shadowclan warrior glanced at him. "You ok?"

Stormpaw couldn't speak; he was too shocked to find that they had brought his sister, and was now realizing what they had meant by 'had'.

"Bloodflame... what happened to her?"

"Stormpaw," Trilliumpaw began, sadly. "She's dead."

He wailed. "No! She was there! She was ok! This can't be what she meant!"

Reedwhisker dropped him and he toppled to the ground -hard. "Pull yourself together! I thought you said you were a clan cat!"

"I-" Stormpaw widened his eyes. "I did say that, because I didn't want to kill her!"

Trilliumpaw was about to object to him saying he ended Bloodflame's life, but Robinpaw gave her a cold look and she hung her head. "I'm so sorry, Stormpaw. But... It's over. She can't hurt any cat anymore."

The crimson-eyed apprentice hesitantly nodded, but as the cats set down his sister, he dragged his paws over to her, gazing at her closed eyelids.

"She's suffering now."

"What?" Tawneypelt asked for him to repeat. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She doesn't get to go to the Dark Forest or Starclan if she dies. She has to live out the rest of every cat's lived forever in pitch blackness."

Trilliumpaw's breath caught, and she pressed her tear-wet head to his.

Robinpaw stared at Bloodflame's body with calm distress.

Stormpaw crouched so he was eye-level with her. "That's where she is now. It happened.

"...She's gone."

~Part VII~

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join me below the Highrock to hear my words."

Bramblestar's voice rang throughout the clearing as cats began to gaze up at him in the center of the Thunderclan Camp.

"Today, I ask my warrior ancestors to watch over this new warrior on his path as one. Stormpaw, please step forward."

The dark, tiger-striped tom nervously stepped in front of the clan. He saw Robinpaw give him an encouraging gaze, and he felt the pride of Trilliumpaw, as he was sure she was having her warrior ceremony as Bramblestar spoke.

"Stormpaw had a difficult assessment, but showed great bravery and gratitude for life when traveling to the Tribe of Rushing Water. Do you promise to uphold the Warrior Code and and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do," Stormpaw couldn't feel more positive.

"Then by the power of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Stormpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Stormstrike. Starclan honors your strengths and weaknesses, and hopes that you use them to your and your clan's advantages. We welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan."

* * *

Stormfur woke up to three familiar scents. His amber eyes opened, and he grinned as he finally found his mother, father, and sister again. Greystripe, Silverstream, and Feathertail were all there to greet him in Starclan.

He leaped up and they all rushed to embrace him. "I kept you all waiting?"

"That only made it better to see you again," Silverstream calmly murmured.

Feathertail locked eyes with him. "Brook and your kits are waiting too. We just wanted to see you before you joined the Tribe's ancestors."

Stormfur nodded regretfully. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know I kept you. I'll never forget you."

"We couldn't forget you," his father responded.

"We'll be thinking about you!" Feathertail chirped.

Stormfur nodded thankfully and padded from his family, but not before one last embrace.

* * *

_Good night, sister of mine._

_Rest now in moonlight's embrace._

_Barer of my lullaby,_

_winds of the Earth,_

_through clouds __and through skies __and through space._

_Carry the peace and the coolness of night,_

_and carry my sorrow in kind._

_Bloodflame, your life meant much more than you know._

_May troubles be far from your mind,_

_and forgive me for being so blind._

_ -Lullaby for a Princess_

* * *

**Ok, so it aint Monday! It's Friday. Let's just say if you're reading this on Monday, then... uh... you get a free digital mint...? O -Mint. And I have a bunch of excuses why (why I haven't posted in a while): I had writer's block all week + a load of homework, and today my laptop got a virus so I can't go on the internet until my dad looks at it, which will be tomorrow night and also because I had another load of homework. There's my excuse, so let's get to the better part.**

**This is only the end of part 1 to this series, which means I have bits and pieces of another part that will have stuff about Stormstrike and stuff. I just haven't worked out the details. But I'll be about his kit(s). Dunno who the mother would be.**

**OK, THEN! PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW SAYING WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS STORY, AND WHO STORMSTRIKE'S MATE SHOULD BE! This would be easy for my if Trilliumheart was in the same clan. (Trilliumheart is her warrior name)**

**I'm just glad I could get this one done, and with how it turned out. Originally, when I was making stuff up as I went along, this was supposed to be with entirely different cats that nobody reading this would know, and they had a leader who died and is in Starclan, but still leads her clan with only one life and stuff, and there were two kits born into her clan by apparently no cat: Lifekit and Deathkit. Now, obviously Deathkit would be like Bloodflame, and Lifekit would be like Stormstrike, except just without all the need to kill and red eyes and needing to control themselves. Lifekit would probably be born from a Starclan cat, and Deathkit would be born from a D.F cat... holy crap, I could have had them be Thistleclaw and Snowfur's kits! But nooo, I just HAD to make Thistleclaw die in this, so even if I were to have that be in the next part, Thistleclaw died in this one, so the story would be terrible. Oh, how I hate my past self when I wrote that Thistleclaw (getting sick of typing that, it's hard when leaning over a desk of homework to reach the keyboard) died.**

**Oh well, the next part should be good, so keep watch for it! (It'll be a separate story, not the next chapter of this)**

**And apparently I forgot Tigerheart existed. Sorry, Tigerheart.**

**How did Bloodflame survive the first lightning bolt? I dunno, she has powers.**

**I don't know exactly how a warrior ceremony goes, but Stormstrike wasn't a normal apprentice. So he can have an abnormal ceremony.**

**I KNOW STORMFUR HAD KITS NOW, BUT WE CAN ASSUME THEY DIED, ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE TRIBE. SORRY.**

**And just to help the visual, Stormstrike's dragon (btw I just thought that a clash between a flaming phoenix and a dragon made of lightning would be cool) is a Chinese dragon, not like the kind in Skyrim. There should be dragons like the Chinese dragons in Skyrim, that'd be cool.**

**God, it's hard trying to drag on a fight, especially when I didn't explain why they were fighting until at least half way through. And when I wanted to just cut to the death and epilogue(s).**

**Also, the only characters I made are Robinlight, Stormstrike and Bloodflame, because even though Trilliumheart isn't a original character, she was made by my friend starclan27, who as far as I know isn't on FanFiction, but she knows I use Trilliumheart and is ok with it.**

**Thanks to everyone who is reading and/or has followed along with this series, I had a lot of fun with it!**

**See y'all when I see y'all, and remember: every storm runs out of rain!**

**...**

**Crap that was cheesy. And I just realized that song has almost nothing to do with this story. Huh. Still sounds cool.**

**-Shiny**


	12. Nightpaw's Story part 1 of 2

Part 1 (of 2)

~Fall of the Risen~

A flash of white fur with black tips whirled as Nightpaw bounded through the forests of Thunderclan, her crimson eyes bright and gleeful on her first day out of the camp as an apprentice. She breathed deeply, taking in all the new smells of late Newleaf, and disposing of the old bland smells of the nursery. She looked behind her, bouncing up and down in front of a Thunderpath on their territory. "Hurry up, Dewnose! And Sunnypaw, don't you want to see all these new things?"

Sunnypaw, a ginger she-cat like her mother, Squirrelstar, but with pale ears and tail, was her best friend since they were kits, and had been made an apprentice on the same day as herself. And although every cat around the lake knew about how she was related to an evil cat named Bloodflame, and why she and her father, Stormstrike, had red eyes, Nightpaw had the trust of almost none of the cats in her clan, and was shown hostility by other clans for more than clan differences. But Sunnypaw understood Nightpaw's innocence.

"Of course I do," the ginger apprentice meowed. "But Stormstrike can't go as fast as us."

"Oh, right," Nightpaw murmured, guiltily.

It had been moons since the death of Bloodflame, and the return of the cats sent to stop her from destroying the Tribe of Rushing Water, but her father had been left with injuries that neither Jayfeather nor Robincall could heal. Still, the Thunderclan deputy insisted that he watch his daughter's first outing, and although Squirrelstar had not set aside very many differences they had, besides the confusing reason why she made him deputy of her clan, even she agreed with him.

Nightpaw waiting impatiently for the rest of the cats to catch up, and slowed her pace to a calm walk next to Sunnypaw, who eyed her. "Aren't you a little worried for Snowbush?"

"Yeah, but mostly disappointed," the white apprentice flicked her ear. "It's pretty convenient that he's in camp with whitecough on the first day I actually get to go outside of camp after a day of picking ticks out of the elder's fur."

"Jayfeather said it could easily spread to greencough! It's not his fault!" Sunnypaw replied, her voice twitching with shock.

Nightpaw stopped. "I know that! I said I was disappointed, but I never said I _wasn't_ worried for him."

Stormstrike and Dewnose picked up their pace, and Nightpaw's eyes widened for a moment as her father flinched, but flattened his fur again calmly, as no cat other than Nightpaw had seemed to notice. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine!" Nightpaw chirped. "Are we allowed to go over there?"

She pointed with her tail to the flat area beyond the Thunderpath, and Stormstrike shook his head. "No, that is where a group of Twolegs live. I don't want you in danger, or causing trouble."

She sighed. "Ok..."

"Hey, Nightpaw!"

The jet-black flame-outlined tailed apprentice **(I'm trying to develop her design in detail, and this was the best way to do it. At least you can picture it clearly)** turned around to Sunnypaw's cheerful voice as the ginger she-cat beckoned her over. "I think I smell prey over here! Want to check it out?"

"Sure!" Nightpaw glanced at Dewnose and Stormstrike. "Can we go alone?"

The warriors exchanged looks. "I suppose so, but we'll stay close," Dewnose nodded.

The apprentices grinned and bounded off into the bushes, quickly remembering to crouch, but still holding the little training they had from begging the older apprentices to show them what they learned when Nightpaw and Sunnypaw were kits.

"Why did you want to go alone? I mean," Sunnypaw began. "I know they'll be nearby, but wouldn't it be better if they gave us a demonstration first?"

"We know enough from the others, and it's not a bad thing to want to learn from ourselves," she replied, dismissively.

"I guess not," Sunnypaw agreed.

The continued silently, keeping low to the ground, until Sunnypaw froze in place. "Nightpaw, hold on."

"What is it?" She turned around, a few steps in front of her friend.

Sunnypaw tried to speak, but nothing came out. Her neck fur stood on end as she turned, quivering, to a tree next to them.

Nightpaw stopped herself from yelping. Brief images flashed through her mind of a Thunderclan patrol returning to camp, covered in wounds and clups of fur. One of them collapsed before Robincall's paws, and she remembered hearing the others explaining to Squirrelstar of a giant, savage beast that attacked cats on sight and remorselessly fought to kill. They called it a badger.

Enormous claw marks streaked across the trees, carrying the same, unforgettable scent as the injured patrol had.

The white apprentice flexed her claw an growled fiercely, but Sunnypaw meekly whispered to her, "What are you doing? You know what one of those things did to a whole patrol! Let's just get Stormstrike and Dewnose, and then we can go back to camp so a prepared patrol of warriors can do something about it!"

Hesitantly, Nightpaw sighed. "Ok, you're right. Let's go."

But when they started to sneak back to the warriors, something black and white exploded from the darkness of the forest, just as Stormstrike and Dewnose rushed in front of them. The deputy yelled to them, "Get out of here, now!"

Sunnypaw scrambled away, followed by Nightpaw who glanced back as the warriors back away, leading the creature that reeked of badger away.

The apprentices stopped in front of the Thunderpath, Sunnypaw anxiously waited for her mentor and deputy's returns.

They began to hear paws heading towards them, and Nightpaw stepped forward to meet the warriors. But she was sent flying backwards, shrieking as she felt a deep gash streak across her stomach. The forest was turned upside down, then sideways as she landed on a hard surface with a startling jolt.

Nightpaw flung her crimson eyes open, and she cringed. All she saw was the dark grey stone of the Thunderpath and her own blood spreading across it. Unable to bear looking at this for any longer, she met the horrified face of Sunnypaw, and the menacing, snarling shape of the badger.

She tried to snap her eyes into focus and force herself to her paws, but neither happened.

The gigantic beast charged at her again. It's claws could have been right in front of her face when it froze briefly and darted off the Thunderpath. Nightpaw didn't watch it leave and instead turned to Sunnypaw, about to ask her friend for help, but the ginger she-cat wasn't looking directly at her.

As if time had slowed down as the emerald eyes were looking further down the Thunderpath, sliding back to Nightpaw until they were just before her.

Blinding lights flashed on the white-furred apprentice followed by a thundering roar, one she had heard once when she left camp without permission as a kit and camp running back with a pounding heart as soon as she heard it coming from this very Thunderpath.

Her head could turn just enough to see... nothing.

Time had finally stopped with the ringing of a little cat's scream.

* * *

**Ok, I've wanted to make this for a while, I thought of it during the early chapters of Every Storm.**

**This is definitely going to be continued, as it is only part 1 of 2. But what more could happen after this, you might be wondering? Well, find out in the next part!**

**I might do more short-ish stories like this, but there really isn't much more to explain after Nightpaw. And I definitely don't know how to explain who Nightpaw's mother is, mainly because I have no clue myself, so I'll let you guys decide that and/or share your thoughts on the matter in a review!**

**That's pretty much it, so see y'all when I see y'all!**

**-Shiny**


	13. Nightpaw's Story part 2 of 2

Part 1 (of 2)

~Rise of the Fallen~

Sunnypaw's cry rang throughout the forest as she stared at her friend, mangled, covered in blood, the fur and flesh gone from some of her paws, and a rib bone-showing gash down her side. Her crimson eyes were now a shallow pool, glossed over with a terrified expression.

Dewnose leaped in front of his apprentice, shielding her eyes from the scarring loss. She buried her tearful face in his fur, and he looked away with grief.

Stormstrike quivered, small jolts of lightning seeping from his claws and soaking through his pelt. He silenced the growl in his throat, and they vanished with a flash of scarlet. The sky filled with dark clouds, and he hung his head at the edge of the Thunderpath, in front of his daughter's motionless body.

**(Yes, I'm pulling a rain scene. But it makes sense, because Stormstrike kind of controls storms)**

"Starclan..." Dewnose tried to keep the image of Nightpaw, alive, well, and one of the only cats in Thunderclan brave enough to be proud of her, from being covered by her state now.

"GET ROBINCALL!" Stormstrike shouted over his shoulder, his paws still frozen to the ground. Lightning cracked over the sky.

Dewnose pushed Sunnypaw in front of him and they darted back for camp.

_This isn't happening... _He gritted his teeth and blinked back hot tears as he shook his head with denial. _This can't be happening..._

But it was happening. It could happen. And it had happened to her. An innocent young daughter, having not yet accomplished something special she had in her future before it was slaughtered along with her. What a horrible way to leave this world; young, alone, afraid.

Stormstrike scolded himself. She was going to be ok. Robincall would get here in time, he would heal her, maybe those wounds would leave scars and flesh missing, but Nightpaw couldn't possibly die. He didn't want to think of what might happen if she did. There was no cat to tell him where she would go. She deserved to be in Starclan, but he never would know if she would die and live in pitch darkness forever, never to move, think, or see another thing again, like his sister.

"Nightpaw," he wanted to say something, he wanted to tell her she would be ok. But somewhere inside him, he knew she wouldn't.

All he could do was utter her name over and over. "Nightpaw... Nightpaw... Nightpaw..."

His heart sank with every passing moment, with every name. The rain still poured down on them and lightning still shattered the sunless sky, but he couldn't hear anything. His vision blurred and rocked back and forth. Drops of rain spilled into Nightpaw's open wounds, mixing with her blood, running out even then.

She had lost too much of it, and she wasn't strong enough to hold on before she could be healed. Her life was over, and so was her father's world.

He thought he didn't care if he made out the badger's snarling as it stomped towards him across the Thunderpath. He thought he didn't want to leave her side. He thought he didn't want to run. He thought wrong; he did care, he did want to, he did run away. Escaping death even as it was hot on his tail, he was to scared to look back at his daughter losing the last drops of her life as crows flew down around her, to afraid to face his own death or to remember that his daughter had died.

* * *

Nightpaw blinked her eyes open, her throat and her eyes dry. Looking down at her paws, she saw that fur and flesh had been ripped clean off, and her ribs showed from a gash in her side that she had to look at again to realize it was there. Her white pelt was matted with blood. She gazed around at the forest, stars floating through the trees and a sky so clear she could see past the stars. _Am I dead? Where are the other Starclan cats?_

Her breath caught in her throat and she bit her lip. Had she gone to where Bloodflame was? Then why was this forest so beautiful; why was it what she had pictured when she was told of Starclan? Could it be that because she wasn't born with powers like her father's ability to summon lightning, she wasn't sent to an unchartable world where nothing existed? _I don't understand. What happened to me? Where's Stormstrike? And Sunnypaw and Dewnose?_

She had to find where she had died, then she felt she would remember. Thinking she would struggle getting up, she forced herself to her paws. But she didn't feel any pain, even though her wounds were terrifying. Hesitantly, she took a step forward and still felt fine.

Nightpaw exhaled and cautiously padded through the forest until finding a mirror-like opening in the thick trees. She stared into her reflection's eyes for a long moment. Looking behind her, she saw her wounds. They were all over her, revealed bones, scars, scratches, and slices that couldn't be cured. But her mirror image begged to differ. This other Nightpaw was smiling, untouched by any harm, but what the real Nightpaw couldn't believe was that her reflection's eyes weren't blood-red. And they shimmered with happiness. She stepped through the mirror, hoping she could find where she died, but also what was making her mirror self so happy even more.

Her pelt faded into vivid pale colors, and the stars from the forest twinkled in her fur. Though she couldn't be sure, she felt as though her eyes were still red. _So I am in Starclan,_ she sighed with relief.

The burden of not knowing where she would go when she died was unbearable while she was alive. Now she knew she would be able to see her ancestors, be one of them, watch over her father and clan.

But then Nightpaw looked in front of her.

Her claws unsheathed and slid through the hard stone of the Thunderpath. Her pupils shrank and her ears slowly fell back. She remembered what had happened. She remembered how she died.

_The badger knocked me into the Thunderpath, just before a monster came. Sunnypaw, Dewnose, and Stormstrike were all there._

Her eyes narrowed into bitter slits. _They refused to save me. They didn't care if I was dead. They don't even care now; no cat ever cared!_

Nightpaw's own mangled body would have been enough to bring her to tears. But her mind flooding with ice-cold thoughts wasn't caused by just this.

Crows were there, savagely tearing her body apart as she lay there, blood still splayed across the stone. They picked at her without even thinking once about it. Not even crows gave a damn if a cat too young to do anything with her life but lose it was being corrupted as they tore through her without any guilt.

She wanted to scream. Her claws started actually breaking through the real world's Thunderpath, and the crows looked up and flew away, cawing loudly and taking more than half of her body with them in scraps. They could see her. They could feel her hatred for them, but Nightpaw barely felt any for them. Her clanmates hadn't even thought of carrying her body from the Thunderpath to bury, or morn over. Were they disgusted by it, or had they even looked?

Now she really did scream. She screamed until her lungs burned almost as much as her heart. Tears slid down her face as it faded into a sob, but she yowled between swallowing lumps in her throat.

She couldn't turn her screams into words, just enough of a scalding hatred to justify how she felt towards every cat who didn't care.

_I didn't deserve this._

She didn't pause to run to Thunderclan's camp, to the cats that betrayed her.

It seemed as though she were there in seconds, standing in front of Stormstrike, just before the camp entrance. She didn't miss the surprise in his eyes, but she mistook his heavy sorrow to see her again, believing she might go to where Bloodflame had gone, for fear for his own life.

"Well you didn't care if I died, father," she hissed at him heartlessly. "I won't care if you die, and go where I didn't."

"Nightpaw," his eyes widened, still frozen with disbelief.

Stormstrike was grief-struck when he thought his daughter would have to live every eternity alone where nothing existed, but to see her here now, he couldn't even recognize the rage in her eyes as she leaped at him with her claws unsheathed, and tears of hatred streaming from her eyes and landing on the grass, mixing with her father's blood as it shed.

* * *

"Nightpaw."

That was the last word she heard from any cat before she opened her eyes to the abandoned Thunderclan camp. The only sounds were her paw-steps as she slid her paws against the ground, leaving a trail of blood. She couldn't keep her head still, the caterwauls of the Thunderclan cats as they died at her claws or watched their families die while they had to flee.

It was the word she heard after, as well. But it wasn't from Stormstrike. It was from Firestar, the cat who had come to welcome her to Starclan. He stared at her with disbelief, agony, and shame. Without uttering another word, the stars faded from her pelt and she was outlined in a black and red aura. Nightpaw fell to the ground, her eyes shut tight and her teeth clenched at what she had done.

* * *

She didn't want to open them again. Nightpaw already knew who was standing in front of her, though she had never met him. She didn't want to see Hawkfrost, she didn't want to look into his ice-blue gaze, whether it was shining with pride or sparking with hatred. She knew the answer once he spoke, but she still didn't look at him.

"You don't belong here. Your father murdered my daughter, and you are no better than him. You deserve worse than the Dark Forest."

Nightpaw finally fell into the eternal darkness, where she once hadn't belonged, where she had no escape from, where she had no say in it.

But every belief that any cat had told her about these cursed red eyes were proven wrong when out of the darkness, she heard her father's kind word.

"Nightpaw."


End file.
